Rockdale County grand juries recently indicted suspects for murder in two child abuse cases and one case where a body was dumped on the side of Interstate 20.
In an indictment, a grand jury decides that there's enough substance to the charges against defendants to proceed with the case.
Matthew Lanier Mangrum, 29, of Decatur, was indicted for malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault felony, false statement felony, and concealing a death felony for the alleged killing of Jason Durran Ramey, 32, of Loganville.
Troopers found Ramey's body in the ditch on the side of I-20 west between the Sigman Road and Turner Hill Road exits on the evening of September 25, 2008. Mangrum, who reportedly told deputies he had not seen the victim for a month before his death, was charged with shooting and killing Ramey with a handgun. A $30,000 bond was set in October 2008.
Raul Solis, 20, was indicted for malice murder, two counts of felony murder, aggravated battery, and cruelty to children in the first degree for the death of three-year-old Edna Figueroa on March 5, 2011.
Edna and her two brothers had recently moved from Texas to live with their mother, Yaneth DeLaCruz Alvarez, her boyfriend, Solis, and their child. Alvarez was charged with second degree cruelty to children. Edna had reportedly gone into Solis's room and angered him that morning and was discovered in the afternoon lying unresponsive in her room. She was rushed to Egleston Children's Hospital but was later determined to be brain dead and taken off life support the next day. An autopsy concluded that she had been shaken severely and struck with something on the top of her head.
In another child abuse case, James Revera Sims, II, 23, of Conyers, was indicted for two counts of malice murder, aggravated batter felony, and two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree for the death of two-year-old Cayden Allen on April 8, 2011.
Sims, boyfriend of the child's mother, initially told police the child went unconscious when they walked to the bathroom for potty training. Cayden was treated for a brain hemorrhage Egleston Children's Hospital where he later died. An autopsy found bruising on the right side of the head that indicated the child was struck several times. The 2-year-old's testes were also reportedly swollen and bruised. Cayden had recently been brought to live with his mother after having been raised with his grandparents in Kentucky.
