John Jefferson
Left: Ashley Rolland (St. Francis County Sheriff’s Office). Right: Blu Rolland (GoFundMe).
The mother who did not stop her boyfriend from drowning her 5-year-old son in the toilet because he bit the man’s finger and then watched as he buried the boy under the home’s floorboards pleaded guilty, Arkansas authorities said.
A judge sentenced 30-year-old Ashley Rolland to 40 years in prison for her role in the 2022 death of her son Blu Rolland. After originally facing a capital murder charge among others, she pleaded guilty on Aug. 8 to two counts of permitting abuse of a minor in Lee County Circuit Court, according to the Arkansas State Police. Her boyfriend, 34-year-old Nathan Bridges, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and battery in July. A judge sentenced him to 60 years in prison.
In previous filings arguing Rolland was not eligible for the death penalty, her lawyers noted she was “merely present” at the home when Bridges murdered Blu. A witness also stated that Rolland was screaming “Stop it!” to Bridges during the drowning, her lawyers said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, a probable cause affidavit said Rolland’s parents on Dec. 16, 2022, requested the assistance of deputies with the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in picking up their two grandchildren from Rolland’s house, which is located in the 200 block of Front Street in Moro, a small town in west Arkansas. It was supposed to be Blu’s 6th birthday. Rolland had brought out her daughter, but claimed Blu was not at the residence. The little girl had severe scabbing on the top of her head, which Rolland told her parents was just an “allergic reaction.”
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Upon arriving at the scene, first responders made contact with Rolland’s father, who reported that his daughter told him Blu was “dead inside the home and described where he was located.”
“Deputies located where Blu was reported to be and found newly nailed-down boards,” the affidavit states. “Deputies removed the boards and found disturbed earth underneath. Deputies removed the top layer of the earth and found a child’s flip-flop shoes and a red and blue blanket. Removing the top layer of the earth released the pungent odor of decay.”
Deputies then called in the Arkansas State Police to take over the investigation and a search warrant was executed on the home. The floorboards were torn off and investigators found a small human body wrapped in multiple layers consisting of plastic bags and a blanket. The body was transferred to the Arkansas State Crime Lab and later confirmed to be Blu.
In an interview with investigators, Rolland stated that Blu died on Sept. 9, 2022, after upsetting Bridges by biting his finger.
“[Blu] had angered her boyfriend, Nathan Bridges, by biting his finger when Bridges stuck it in [Blu’s] mouth. Bridges took [Blu] to the bathroom and as punishment repeatedly placed [Blu’s] head in the water filled toilet until he drowned him,” the affidavit states. “Nathan cut a hole in their wooden floor, dug a hole in the ground, and buried [Blu] under the house. Rolland stated that she was in the living room while [Blu] was in the bathroom with Bridges. When Bridges exited the bathroom, Rolland entered the bathroom and saw [Blu] struggling to breath[e], and his body was limp.”
Rolland also told investigators that Bridges was responsible for her daughter’s injuries. She claimed that he “held [her daughter’s] head and upper torso under hot water in the bathtub” as “punishment for her behavior issues.”
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report
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