TOLEDO, Ohio — The July death of a south Toledo child was ruled a homicide, after the Lucas County Coroner found her cause of death to be the result of post-traumatic epilepsy, according to a press release issued Wednesday. Her death was caused by injuries in a 2014 assault when she was just one year old.
A Toledo police report indicates crews responded to a residence in the 500 block of Hampton Avenue on July 10 regarding an unresponsive child. Emergency crews declared 9-year-old Jaydan Tripplet deceased on the scene that afternoon.
The following day, an autopsy was performed on Triplett. According to the Lucas County Coroner's Office, Tripplet suffered from post-traumatic epilepsy as a result of head trauma.
In 2014, Markeese L. Cummings was accused of punching Tripplet in the face when she was one year old. According to police, Tripplet sustained serious facial injuries in the incident and was treated at a hospital. Following the injury, Triplett began experiencing seizures and had to be fed from a tube. Cummings was sentenced to five years in prison in 2015 after he was convicted of felonious assault.
Toledo police investigators told WTOL 11 they have made the Lucas County Prosecutor's Office aware the death was ruled a homicide. The Prosecutor's Office is in the process of determining how to proceed with charges in the death.
Post-traumatic epilepsy was ultimately ruled the cause of Tripplet's death.
Tripplet's death is Toledo's 30th homicide in 2023.
NOTE: The above line has been edited to reflect the correct number of homicides in Toledo in 2023.
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