After police interviewed the other children of the still-missing girl’s mother and her boyfriend — hearing shocking and horrific allegations of abuse — both were arrested and slapped with new charges.
Warning: This story contains disturbing details of alleged child abuse.
More heartbreaking details were uncovered about the life of a still-missing toddler, with police in Oklahoma City revealing allegations of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Ashley Rowland’s boyfriend, Joshua Denton.
The investigation does not allege that Denton, 40, sexually abused then-2-year-old London Kerr — who Rowland, 39, had previously confessed to giving to a meth dealer in 2022 who could be her father — but sexual abuse is alleged by his own 8-year-old daughter.
Interviews with Denton’s other children were a key component of the investigation, as detailed by Law&Crime, offering details of horrific violence they claim both they and Kerr endured at the hands of their father, before her shocking disappearance three years ago.
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Rowland had already been hit with a charge of child abandonment for the disappearance of her daughter. She had bonded out of jail, per ABC affiliate KBTX, but is back behind bars, now also facing facing two counts of enabling child abuse by injury and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses, according to jail records reviewed by the outlet.
Denton was arrested August 5 alongside Rowland and charged with six counts of child abuse, and one count each of sodomy, lewd or indecent proposals or acts to a child, and engaging in a pattern of criminal offenses. His total bond is set at $504,500, while Rowland’s is $300,000, per The Oklahoman.
Kerr was first discovered missing when the state’s Department of Human Services could not locate the then-toddler during a pickup order in 2023, per the newspaper. Rowland had initially told investigators the baby was with her father in Georgia
Police are still actively searching for Kerr, who would now be five years old, after her mother ultimately told police she gave the child to a man named “Carlos,” who she had previously purchased methamphetamine from. She told police at the time that he “could” be Kerr’s father and she believed he had taken Kerr to Mexico.
She additionally said that she had not given “Carlos” any of Kerr’s personal identification documents. But police stated in a press release at the time that they’d been unable to recover any of those documents after extensive searches of “multiple properties, storage units, and electronic devices.”
“Time is of the essence, still hoping for a positive turnout in this case, and we don’t have a lot to go off of right now, which makes it extremely difficult,” Oklahoma City Police Sgt. Dillon Quirk told ABC affiliate KOCO.
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Other Children Speak Out
As part of their investigation into the disappearance of London Kerr, police spoke with Rowland’s older children, aged 15 and 16, who hit them with a laundry list of disturbing allegations of physical and sexual abuse allegedly suffered at the hands of their father, as detailed by The Oklahoman and other outlets.
While many of those alleged abuses were inflicted on the children themselves, according to their interviews with detectives, they also detailed alleged incidents of horrific abuses they say they saw Denton inflict on Kerr.
Her 15-year-old son allegedly claimed that Denton had shot Kerr with a BB gun, leaving marks and bruises on her body. He also said that she was hit with a wooden paddle. Police detailed in their probable cause affidavit recovering a BB gun and a paddle, which had “The Last Resort” written on it. Both items were found in a storage unit that belonged to both Denton and Rowland.
That same teen further detailed allegations of abuse he said he and his older brother both endured, including the claim that Denton duct-taped him to a chair and whipped him with a belt. He said that Denton threatened to kill him, per the affidavit, and “make him disappear” if he ever told police about what happened. The boy said that Rowland witnessed the abuse and did nothing.
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Police also spoke with Denton’s younger children, 8 and 10, who told them that their father had poured hot sauce on Kerr’s eyes “more than one time,” per the affidavit. They also alleged that he made her bite down on a hot pepper, and would lock her in a closet.
Denton’s 8-year-old daughter accused Denton of sexually abusing her. She said, per the affidavit, that she was warned that if she ever told anyone, she would die. The girl also alleged that Rowland knew about the abuses Kerr had suffered at the hands of her father, as she herself told Rowland about the baby being force-fed a hot pepper.
The 15-year-old also detailed for police what he says was the last time he saw Kerr. According to the court documents, he saw her with Denton and Rowland in a car, with Rowland purportedly telling him to “say goodbye to London.” They then drove off and he says he never saw the pre-schooler again.
When asked about the children’s statements, Rowland denied that Denton had ever abused any of the children, including Kerr. She did admit, per court documents, that she “had told people different things in the past than what really happened” with “Carlos.” Detectives stated that they were not able to even verify his existence, per the affidavit, much less anything else said about him.
Investigators are encouraging anyone with information that might lead to the recovery of London Kerr to contact the homicide tip line at 405-297-1200 or Crime Stoppers by calling 405-235-7300 or clicking here.
If you are experiencing or witness child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. If you believe a child is in immediate danger, call 911.
The National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline — 800.656.HOPE (4673) — provides free, 24/7 support for those in need.
