Lonzie Barton was a blond-haired, blue eyed toddler beloved by his family and described as a very happy baby by those close to him. On July 23 of last year, he died.
It was early in the morning – 2:16 a.m. – when his caregiver, Ruben Ebron, called the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to report his car missing, with the 21-month-old Lonzie still inside. It had allegedly been stolen.
But none of that was true.
Ruben and Lonzie’s mother, Lonna Barton, were living together with the toddler and his 5-year-old sister. When he died, he was alone. His caregivers reportedly left the toddler in the bathtub.
Panicking, Ruben hatched a plan to stage a kidnapping and eventually hid the toddler’s body under a pile of tires on the Southside.
In April, after his body was eventually found, Lonzie was put to rest at a small funeral service for immediate family.
What happened to Lonzie was terrible – but the community and law enforcement response was incredible. Large parts of Jacksonville and the surrounding areas came together to try and find the child and bring him justice.
In the end, as Chief of Investigations with Jacksonville police Tom Hackney said, this community became Lonzie’s family.