A California woman and her boyfriend were sentenced Friday to state prison on the eve of trial for the death of her 9-year-old daughter. Her body was found partially inside a duffel bag near a Hacienda Heights-area equestrian trail.
Taquesta Graham and Emiel Hunt were sentenced to 15 years to life and 25 years to life, respectively, a court official said.
The couple faced murder and torture charges involving the death of Graham’s daughter, Trinity Love Jones, whose body was found on March 5, 2019, at the bottom of an embankment close to Colima Road and the 3400 block of Hacienda Boulevard, near the His Lai Buddhist Temple.
County workers clearing some brush came upon the child’s body, which was partially inside a black rollaway-type duffel, with her head and upper body protruding from the partially zipped bag.
Investigators believe that the girl, who was mourned at a public memorial service, had been left at the scene during the afternoon of March 1, 2019.
She died from consequences of blunt force trauma and neglect, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Graham, Hunt and Trinity moved from a family member’s home in Long Beach in May 2018, and during the next 10 months, their extended family had limited contact with them, according to the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.
They were homeless just prior to the girl’s death and were living in a Santa Fe Springs motel or in their vehicle, officials said, noting that there were no open or active Department of Children and Family Services cases involving the girl.
As sheriff’s homicide detectives investigated the girl’s death, Hunt and Graham were stopped three days later at a border checkpoint in Hudspeth County, Texas.
Trinity was scarred from head to toe. The 9-year-old’s body had so many injuries that a medical examiner performing an autopsy had to draw several diagrams to document them all.
Evidence showed that the girl had been abused for months — beaten, denied food and bearing an infection on her feet that made it hard for her to wear shoes.
In court, investigators read aloud text messages in which Hunt and Graham wrote of punishing the girl and complained that she kept urinating on herself. “Trinity is going to get it,” Graham texted Hunt after one such incident.
In another exchange from January 2019, Graham asks Hunt to show Trinity the text she has sent: “We were talking about giving you a burrito … you messed up.”
In interviews with investigators, Hunt and Graham said that two weeks before her death, the girl fell and hit her head, L.A. County Sheriff’s Det. Marc Boisvert testified. There was a large lump on her forehead and her left and right eyes had begun to swell. She became lethargic and started to slur her words, Graham said.
Graham told investigators that on Feb. 28, she woke up and noticed Trinity was congested, Boisvert testified. She said she gave the child Pedialyte, soup and a bagel, then took a shower. When she got out, she noticed that Trinity’s teeth were clenched and she was having a seizure, the detective said.
That afternoon, Graham went to work at a dollar store while Hunt waited in the parking lot. Trinity was in the back seat of the car, sleeping, Graham told investigators. When Graham got off work about 9:30 p.m., the three returned to a hotel and Hunt carried the child back to the room.
Later that night, Graham checked on Trinity and noticed she wasn’t breathing. She told authorities her first thought was that Hunt had placed a pillow over Trinity’s face while they were in the SUV earlier that evening.
Hunt told investigators that he woke up about 3 a.m. March 1 and noticed that the child was not breathing. He said he and Graham “freaked out” because of their criminal histories but told each other “we didn’t do anything wrong,” Boisvert said.
Court records show Hunt was convicted of felony child abuse in San Diego County in 2005 and sentenced to 12 years in state prison. Graham has a prior conviction for involvement with a minor in prostitution.
Graham said she wanted to call 911, but Hunt persuaded her not to and suggested putting the girl’s body in a dumpster, which angered her. She also said she didn’t take the child to the hospital after the fall because she was afraid of getting into trouble.
Just before 6 a.m. March 1, surveillance footage from the Budget Inn in Santa Fe Springs shows Hunt carrying a body wrapped in a blanket, Sheriff’s Det. Louie Aguilera testified.
About 30 minutes later, video from cameras at a Walmart shows Hunt purchasing two shovels, a throw blanket and a lighter.
At 11:36 a.m., Hunt and Graham were spotted at a discount store purchasing a rollaway duffel bag that was identical to the one the girl was found in, Aguilera said.
Aguilera also testified that tracking data showed that Graham, who wore an ankle monitor because she was on parole, was in the area where her daughter was discovered for about 30 to 40 minutes March 1.
After discovering the body, Los Angeles County investigators asked for the public’s help to identify her. A relative called authorities after seeing a sketch and photo of her. Investigators said that Graham, Hunt and Trinity had moved out of a relative’s home in July 2018 and then slept in Hunt’s SUV and at various hotels. Extended family said they had seen the girl only periodically after the move.
Investigators looked into Graham and Hunt’s criminal histories and began searching for them as possible suspects.
Graham was arrested on an unrelated warrant March 8 at a Border Patrol checkpoint in Texas. Hunt was arrested a day later after he was found sleeping in his SUV near San Diego International Airport.
Hunt told investigators that after the couple dumped the child’s body, they drove away from the site in silence, Boisvert testified.
Graham was subsequently required to return to Los Angeles County. Prosecutors say she has a 2016 conviction from San Bernardino County for enticing a minor for prostitution.
Hunt was initially released, but then arrested the next morning after being found sleeping in his black Nissan Armada SUV in a lot near San Diego International Airport. Prosecutors say he has a 2005 conviction for child abuse with great bodily injury in San Diego County.
Tell us your thoughts...