LAKE COUNTY, FLA. – The father of a 9-year-old girl believed to have been tortured and killed by a dog aided by his girlfriend has also been arrested.
Lojuan Sessions, 26, has been charged with the aggravated manslaughter of Jamaria Sessions. Tyshael Elise Martin was arrested earlier, charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect, according to the Lake County Sheriff’s Office.
He was out of state when the child died, but authorities believe he is guilty of encouraging and creating a deadly environment and corporal punishment, including “boot camp” exercises.
An EMS crew called to the Montverde home on June 17 found that child was dead. She had suffered numerous abrasions, punctures, burns and bite marks.
A search of home security videos found Martin holding the leash of the 103-pound rottweiler “encouraging the dog to bite” on June 15 while Jamaria is lying on the floor, according to the probable cause affidavit. Video also reportedly shows her kicking the girl.
An autopsy concluded that she died of “complications of multiple blunt force injuries of head, torso and extremities and thermal injury of right foot.”
A search of cell phone texts shows “Tyshae admitting to ongoing and continual abuse of Jamaria Sessions, often in a bragging manner,” according to the probable cause affidavit. “Lojuan Sessions often makes jokes, is dismissive, or encourages physical abuse….”
The affidavit states that he was sentenced to five years in prison in 2020 for charges including trafficking in MDMA and two counts of felony child abuse, in which he was fleeing law enforcement officers in a vehicle, crashing and injuring three children.
He was on felony probation on those charges when he was arrested.