A 30-year-old mother will serve four decades in prison after her boyfriend killed her 5-year-old son in a toilet as punishment and maimed her 6-year-old daughter in 2022.
Ashley Rolland pled guilty to two charges of enabling abuse of a minor on August 8, according to an Arkansas State Police announcement. She later received a 40-year term from the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
An affidavit states that in December 2022, Lee County deputies attended to a home on Front Street where Ashley Rolland pulled out her daughter. The child had visible injuries to her head that had scabbed over. The mother stated her son, Blu Rolland, was not at home.
The daughter was taken to Forrest City Hospital, where medical personnel concluded she had been seriously burned.
According to the affidavit, Ashley Rolland’s mother informed deputies that Blu Rolland had possibly died inside the defendant’s home. Authorities entered the house and discovered the boy under the floorboards, wrapped in numerous layers of plastic bags.
Ashley Rolland reportedly informed authorities that her son died three months earlier, on September 9, 2022. The victim allegedly “angered her boyfriend, Nathan Bridges, by biting his finger when Bridges stuck it in” his mouth. As punishment, Bridges allegedly drowned the toddler in the toilet. The defendant admitted she entered the bathroom and noticed her baby fighting to breathe and his body appearing limp.
According to the complaint, Ashley Rolland said detectives that Bridges buried the victim under the floorboards after he died.
The defendant claimed Bridges also caused her daughter’s injuries when he held the girl’s “head and upper torso under hot water in the bathtub.” Ashley Rolland’s daughter apparently has behavioral issues, and Bridges used hot water as punishment.
According to state police, Rolland and Bridges were first charged with capital murder, mistreatment of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence, and endangering a minor’s welfare.
Bridges pled guilty to first-degree murder and violence in July and received a 60-year sentence from the Arkansas Department of Corrections.