{"id":919772,"date":"2026-07-08T01:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/919772\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T01:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T01:12:15","slug":"jacksonville-babysitter-admits-to-throwing-shoving-young-child-in-multiple-abuse-incidents-jso-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/919772\/","title":{"rendered":"Jacksonville babysitter admits to throwing, shoving young child in multiple abuse incidents, JSO says"},"content":{"rendered":"

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. <\/strong> \u2013 News4JAX has obtained more arrest reports connected to a serious case of child abuse in Jacksonville. <\/p>\n

Zaben Kinard, 30, and his wife Jasmine Kinard, 28<\/a>, were arrested and booked into the Duval County jail on July 1. Each face three counts of child neglect with great bodily harm, a second-degree felony. <\/p>\n

Their babysitter, Alexus Wortman, 27, faces three counts of aggravated child abuse and two counts of child neglect with great bodily harm.<\/p>\n

Child transferred to Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital<\/p>\n

The Jacksonville Sheriff\u2019s Office was called on June 30, after a child was transferred from Baptist Hospital Town Center to Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital, due to the severity of his injuries.<\/p>\n

A doctor at Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital, confirmed the child\u2019s injuries included a fractured skull, brain bleed, fractured sternum, fractured ribs in different stages of healing, blood pooling in the stomach and a human bite mark on the left leg, according to the report. <\/p>\n

Suspects interviewed at police memorial building<\/p>\n

Wortman, Jasmine Kinard and Zaben Kinard \u2014 were transported to the Police Memorial Building for questioning according to Wortman\u2019s arrest report. <\/p>\n

Police say Wortman told detectives she had been living with Zaben and Jasmine Kinard for approximately one year after meeting Zaben while working at a BP Gas Station\/Convenience Mart. She said she became unemployed about two months prior to the arrest and had agreed to babysit the child in exchange for housing, while also working part-time delivering food orders for Walmart.<\/p>\n

Three separate incidents detailed in admission: JSO<\/p>\n

Wortman admitted to at least three separate incidents in which she caused the child\u2019s injuries between June 11 and June 29, according to her arrest report. <\/p>\n

On June 11, Wortman told detectives she woke up in a bad mood and, while alone with the child after the Kinards left for work, became angry and threw an object \u2014 possibly a bottle \u2014 at the child\u2019s head. Photos shown during the interview confirmed the child\u2019s head and face were swollen, with a bloody circular mark around his left temple and blood in his left eye. Wortman admitted she did not tell the Kinards what happened, fearing they would kick her out.<\/p>\n

On June 24, Wortman told detectives she slipped on wet grass while carrying the child from her vehicle, causing the child\u2019s head to strike the rear of the car. She said the Kinards were notified of the fall via text. The following day, June 25, the child was taken back to Baptist Hospital Town Center \u2014 but Wortman said the Kinards did not tell medical staff what had actually caused the injuries.<\/p>\n

On June 29, Wortman stated she \u201csnapped\u201d after the child made a mess in a playroom. According to the report, she \u201cshoved [the victim] \u2018so hard\u2019 into a closet area,\u201d causing his head and face to swell and giving him a black eye. She admitted the child was then placed in a car seat that evening and left in the living room so as not to wake the Kinards \u2014 and that she stayed with him overnight because she feared his injuries were life-threatening.<\/p>\n

Child diagnosed with brain damage<\/p>\n

By the time Wortman was interviewed, medical staff at Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital had advised detectives that the child had been intubated and that his injuries were so severe they could not ensure he will survive.<\/p>\n

Wortman was informed that the child had been diagnosed with brain damage \u2014 damage that investigators noted may have been avoided had she disclosed the abuse earlier.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlexus admitted she was negligent because she failed at least three times, June 11, June 24 and June 29, 2026, as she was well aware that the victim suffered blunt force trauma at her hands,\u201d a detective wrote in the report. <\/p>\n

Wortman told detectives she had delayed reporting the injuries because she feared she would be kicked out of the home and left homeless, and that there would be \u201cno one to bail her out of jail.\u201d<\/p>\n

Husband and wife knew abuse was occurring, deputies say <\/p>\n

Police say Kinard admitted he knew after three incidents that \u201cthere was a pattern\u201d and that he had failed to protect the child. He acknowledged that his wife had confronted him multiple times with her suspicion that Wortman was harming the child.<\/p>\n

According to Jasmine Kinard\u2019s arrest report, she knew the baby\u2019s injuries were not the result of allergic reactions \u2014 but allowed medical staff to treat him under that assumption on multiple occasions.<\/p>\n

Kinard told detectives she and her husband discussed the situation but agreed not to \u201crock the boat\u201d.<\/p>\n

Zaben Kinard, Jasmine Kinard and Wortman were booked into the Duval County jail on July 1. <\/p>\n

News4JAX is still working to obtain their booking photos. <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WJXT News4JAX – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 News4JAX has obtained more arrest reports connected to a serious case of child abuse in…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":919773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5136],"tags":[5229,42427,3188,723,7310,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":["post-919772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-jacksonville","tag-america","tag-child-neglect","tag-fl","tag-florida","tag-jacksonville","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116881702887142841","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=919772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}