Maryland Transportation Authority Police are preparing murder charges against a West Baltimore man who police believe threw his 3-year-old son off the Key Bridge into the Patapsco River on Sunday.
After more than two days of searching, police had not recovered the boy's body. But police said phone calls from relatives and statements from witnesses on the bridge Sunday night led them to believe that Turner Jordon Nelson had been thrown into the water.
The boy's father, Stephen Todd Nelson, 37, of the 2900 block of Walbrook Ave., was in critical condition in an induced coma at University of Maryland Medical Center after ingesting household cleansers Sunday night in an apparent suicide attempt at his home, police said.
According to police sources, Stephen Nelson's mother called 911 several times Sunday night, saying that her son had thrown her grandson, still in his car seat, off the Key Bridge. She told police that her son and the boy's mother, Natisha Johnson of Gwynn Oak, have had domestic problems.
A calm but distressed Johnson said in a phone interview last night that she had no idea that Nelson was capable of harming their child.
She described their current relationship as average and said they usually did not talk unless it involved Turner. Computerized court records indicate that she and Nelson had been fighting over custody and visitation issues for the past two years in Baltimore County Circuit Court. The case was still active, according to the records.
Johnson said police told her not to publicly discuss the specifics of her last conversation with Nelson. But she said that in an earlier conversation after he had picked up their son, he threatened to throw him from a bridge.
"He was a good family man," Johnson said. "I can't even imagine him doing this. He was a normal guy."
Johnson said she believes Turner might be alive.
"I'm still hoping for the best, still praying that this is a nightmare and that he did not do what he actually said he did. And that he just took my son somewhere else," Johnson said.
Irene Johnson, Turner's maternal grandmother, said she took care of him daily at the house on Ransome Drive in Gwynn Oak that she shares with her daughter, the boy and two other relatives.
She described Turner as smart and lovable, a joy to be around.
She said she, too, could not believe that Nelson would harm Turner.
