LEE COUNTY, Ark. (TCN) — A 30-year-old mother will spend four decades in prison after her boyfriend fatally drowned her 5-year-old son in a toilet as punishment and injured her 6-year-old daughter in 2022.
Ashley Rolland pleaded guilty on Aug. 8 to two counts of permitting abuse of a minor, Arkansas State Police said in a release. She subsequently received a sentence of 40 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
According to an affidavit, in December 2022, Lee County deputies responded to a home on Front Street, where Ashley Rolland brought out her daughter. The child had apparent injuries on her head that had scabbed over. The mother claimed her son, Blu Rolland, was not at the residence.
The daughter was transported to Forrest City Hospital, where staff determined she had been severely burned.
According to the affidavit, Ashley Rolland’s mother told deputies that Blu Rolland was possibly deceased inside the defendant’s home. Authorities entered the residence and found the boy under the floorboards wrapped in multiple layers of plastic bags.
Ashley Rolland reportedly told police her son died three months earlier, on Sept. 9, 2022. The victim allegedly “angered her boyfriend, Nathan Bridges, by biting his finger when Bridges stuck it in” his mouth. As punishment, Bridges reportedly drowned the child in the toilet. The defendant admitted she had entered the bathroom and saw her son struggling to breathe and that his body appeared limp.
According to the affidavit, Ashley Rolland told investigators Bridges buried the victim under the floorboards after his death.
The defendant allegedly said her daughter’s injuries were also caused by Bridges when he held the girl’s “head and upper torso under hot water in the bathtub.” Ashley Rolland’s daughter reportedly struggles with behavioral issues, and Bridges would use hot water as punishment.
According to state police, both Rolland and Bridges were initially charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and endangering the welfare of a minor.
Bridges pleaded guilty in July to first-degree murder and first-degree battery and was sentenced to 60 years in the Arkansas Department of Corrections.