Local News

No Bail For 'Persons Of Interest' In Baby Case

BALTIMORE (WJZ) ― Police have now named three persons of interest in the disappearance of a toddler in Baltimore City.  The child was last seen alive more than two years ago.

Mike Hellgren has followed this story since the beginning and reports two of the suspects faced a judge Tuesday.

Prosecutors linked two women to a cult and the missing child whose body may have been found in Philadelphia.

"That's my pride and joy and I miss my grandson," said paternal grandmother Geraldine Ridgely.

She speaks for the first time about her pain as she waits to hear whether it really was her grandson who police found inside a storage shed in South Philadelphia.

"I'm just hoping and praying that's not my grandson, but in my heart and my mind, I know it's him," she said.

Relatives tell Eyewitness News the child's mom joined a religious cult, took the baby and cut off contact with the family in 2006.

Now police say 39-year-old Queen Antoinette and her daughter, 20-year-old Trevia Williams, are persons of interest in that child's disappearance.  They arrested them in New York earlier this month on charges stemming from a separate investigation. 

In court Tuesday, the prosecutor told the judge about the cult and Antoinette's and Williams' possible connection to the missing Baltimore child and the open murder investigation.  Even though no charges have been filed in that case, the judge ordered the two held without bail.

Both women shook their heads as the prosecutor spoke.

"Prove it.  Prove it," Antoinette said.

Investigators have taken DNA samples from Ridgely's son and the child's maternal grandmother to see whether they match that tiny corpse found in South Philly.

Internal police records obtained by WJZ's newspaper partner The Baltimore Examiner say cult members viewed the toddler as a "demon" and were upset he would not say "Amen" at prayers before eating.

"How can a child at the age of 17 months say grace? They can't even talk," Ridgely said. 

Those records reveal witnesses told police the child was malnourished and died in his mother's arms.  The cult members placed him on a mattress so God could resurrect him from the dead.

"I had contacted Philly police last year and told them that he was up there in a suitcase," Ridgely said.

A third person of interest is 21-year-old Marcus Cobbs, described by prosecutors as the cult leader.  He's still in New York and has not been extradited to Baltimore.

There's no word on where the missing child's mother is right now.

DNA results on the body found in Philadelphia are expected any day now.

Both Queen Antoinette and Trevia Williams are represented by a public defender, who declined comment.

The prosecutor said both are flight risks and had changed their names several times.

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