A Baltimore woman who police say is connected to a religious cult has been charged with first- degree murder in the death of her child, according to court documents obtained yesterday.
Ria Ramkissoon, 21, also known as "Princess Marie," additionally is charged with child abuse, reckless endangerment and other offenses in the death of 21-month-old Javon Thompson. In December 2006, Ramkissoon had taken her son and joined the religious group, 1 Mind Ministries, which operated for a time out of East Baltimore, according to relatives and police.
Court documents say cult members starved the toddler to death and kept his remains in a suitcase for more than a year, until Baltimore homicide detectives found the body in Philadelphia.
Last night, Ramkissoon's mother, Seeta Khadan-Newton, said her daughter called her from the city jail - the first time the two had spoken in two years. Khadan-Newton said police arrested Ramkissoon at a Baltimore homeless shelter yesterday.
Margaret T. Burns, a spokeswoman for the city state's attorney's office, said a court commissioner ordered yesterday that Ramkissoon be held without bail. She is to have a bail review hearing in front of a judge today.
Khadan-Newton said that she was angry that her daughter was the only person arrested in her grandson's death and that she plans to stand by her.
"I would like to see the people responsible for this arrested," she said. "My daughter was a victim, just like my grandson. She didn't willingly decide, 'I'm going to kill my son.' ... It's not like that. Somebody made that decision to not feed that child, and my daughter had to follow instructions."
The leader of 1 Mind Ministries, who identifies herself as Queen Antoinette, had a problem with Javon, who a police source in court papers said would not comply with the group's ritual of saying "amen" after meals.
Court papers say that the more Queen Antoinette pressed the toddler, the more resistant he became and that he was subsequently deprived of food and water as punishment. Javon became thinner and developed dark circles around his eyes, the source told police.
The boy eventually stopped breathing, but the group - which included Javon's mother - sought no medical assistance, court papers allege. The police source said Javon's body was placed in a back room at the group's headquarters in the 3200 block of Auchentoroly Terrace in West Baltimore. Queen Antoinette told the group that Javon would be raised from the dead, according to court papers.
