Men connected to death released
Boyers sent to homeless shelter, will have to pass periodic drug tests.
The two men MIDDLETOWN — allegedly connected to the overdose death to a Middletown mother of nine were released from the Middletown City Jail on Wednesday.
Jim Boyer, 63, and his son, Keith Boyer, 32, were given an OR bond and told to report to Hope House, a downtown homeless shelter. They also must pass periodical drug tests and stay in contact with Middletown police until their next hearing.
Middletown Municipal Court Judge James Sherron rescheduled their preliminary hearings for 2:30 p.m. on Jan. 17.
The two homeless men allegedly were in a house in the 1400 block of Yankee Road on Dec. 13 when Jemita Sanders, 31, died in her kitchen.
Police believe Sanders may have overdosed and that the Boyers left her to die in her kitchen. She was found by one of her nine children, who called 911.
The girl, who said she was 11 years old, told a Middletown dispatcher: “My mom not waking up” when she called 911.
When the young caller said she didn’t know her home address, the dispatcher asked the girl to find the address on a piece of mail, according to the 911 call reviewed by this news outlet.
Eventually, another child in the home knew the address and it was relayed to the 911 dispatcher.
When the girl was asked if her mother was breathing, she quietly says, “I don’t know.”
She was instructed to put her head on her mother’s chest.
“Mom. Mom. Mom,” someone is heard screaming in the background.
The dispatcher asked about other children in the room, and the caller was told to move all the children younger than her into another room.
Middletown Municipal Court Judge Melynda Cook Howard had set Jim Boyer’s bond at $125,000 and appointed him an attorney since he said he has no job. Jim Boyer was charged with abuse of a corpse, tampering with evidence, theft and nine counts of child endangering.
Keith Boyer’s bond was $130,000, $5,000 higher because of a previous failure to appear on a drug charge, the judge said.