Rocky Mount community concerned over several recent child abuses cases

Police said it appears Aiden Silver is the fourth child younger than the age of 2 to be allegedly abused to death this year in Rocky Mount.

Posted 11:58 p.m. Nov 3, 2022 — Updated 12:04 a.m. Nov 4, 2022

Keenan Willard

, WRAL eastern North Carolina reporter

ROCKY MOUNT, N.C. — Rocky Mount residents are voicing their concerns about a potential rise in child abuse after a 15-month-old boy died last week and his mother’s boyfriend is facing a murder charge.

On Oct. 23, Rocky Mount police were called to a home on York Street near Evergreen Road. It’s where they found Aiden Silver unresponsive and were told he’d fallen down.

Isaiah Miller, 19, is charged with the first-degree murder of Silver and felony child abuse. Miller was in a dating relationship with Silver's mother at the time of the October incident, police said.

Police said it appears Silver is the fourth child younger than the age of 2 to be allegedly abused to death this year in Rocky Mount.

In April, mother Zharia Noel and her boyfriend Ahmene Butler were charged in the deaths of a 3-month-old boy and a 1-year-old girl. Authorities found the children unresponsive in a car with burns and bruises on their bodies.

Uncle, aunt, prosecutors want higher bond for couple charged with deaths of children 1, 3 months

In late September, police found Romie Tyler dead in a bathtub. Tyler was 1.

Tyler’s mother Sierra Eley was charged with child abuse. Eley’s boyfriend, Marcus Richardson was charged with first-degree murder.

Judge says boyfriend could face death penalty after Rocky Mount toddler found unresponsive in bathtub with cuts, bruises

Some people in the Rocky Mount community are raising concerns of a possible increase in serious child abuse cases.

The Nash County Sheriff's Office told WRAL News it hasn’t been a significant increase. The sheriff’s office investigated six child abuse cases last year and seven so far this year.

In Edgecombe County, there's only been one child abuse case investigated so far in 2022: the deaths of the two children on Drew Street.

On Thursday, WRAL News reached out to the Rocky Mount Police Department for a comparison of child abuse cases from 2021 to 2022 but has yet to hear back.

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