The father of a 9-year-old girl who was beaten to death by his girlfriend has also been charged with her “savage” murder.
Lo Juan Sessions, 26, was arrested Friday in Orange County, Florida. His arrest comes after his girlfriend, Tyshael Martin, 34, was charged with beating his daughter, Jamaria Sessions, to death.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Martin ordered the family dog to maul Jamaria before Martin beat her to death.
Authorities say Sessions knew Martin was abusing Jamaria. An affidavit detailed text messages from Sessions to Martin accusing her of abusing Jamaria.
Sessions was booked into the Polk County Jail. He is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.
A 911 call from the home before 5 a.m. on June 17 described Jamaria as “unresponsive.”
Medics and deputies arrived and observed the child was unresponsive and cold to the touch. Jamaria was naked and covered with “numerous abrasions, bruises, burns, and possible bite marks” all over her body.
An autopsy revealed Jamaria died from multiple blunt injuries to the head and body and a thermal burn on her right foot. Martin told police the girl’s foot was burned when she used boiling water to wash Jamaria’s hair.
Lt. John Herrell with the Lake County Sheriff’s Office told WESH that it was the worst case of child abuse he had ever seen.
Authorities used home surveillance cameras to piece together what happened on June 17.
The footage shows Martin directing the family’s 103-pound Rottweiler dog to bite Jamaria repeatedly. The video showed Martin holding the dog’s leash while it mauled the girl.
The footage also showed Martin drag Jamaria’s motionless body across the floor. She was seen repeatedly kicking, hitting, and shaking the girl while saying, “I’m fixin’ to kill her!”
Martin is charged with first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, and child neglect. She is being held in the Lake County Jail without bond.
Sessions is also the father of a 5-year-old girl. Both girls moved in with him after he completed a 3-year prison sentence for probation violation in August 2023.
The girls’ mother, Tadrina Dort, died of complications from leukemia in September 2022 at age 24.
The girls had been staying with their grandmother, Althea Chenault, while Dort was in the hospital.
“I already knew something was going to happen,” Chenault told WESH. Chenault said she tried to get injunctions against Martin for ongoing violence and threats.
Chenault said Martin taunted Dort while she was in the hospital for the treatment of leukemia.
“Tadrina was in the hospital, and [Martin] was writing Tadrina on Facebook saying she hoped she died,” said Chenault.
Martin and Sessions had other children in the home. They shared a child together and Martin had 2 teenage daughters of her own.
Martin’s 18-year-old daughter told police she and her sister would sometimes discipline Jamaria with a belt.
A week before Jamaria died, the children went on a cruise with Martin and Martin’s mother.
Sessions didn’t go on the cruise with them. According to an affidavit, he “was in the midst of an affair with another female, who subsequently became pregnant with his child. It is unknown if Tyshael Martin knew of this affair.”
