Mother of murdered Largo toddler faces new charges

LARGO, Fla. (FOX 13) - The mother of a little boy who was at the center of an Amber Alert before he was found murdered is facing new charges. 

Charisse Stinson, 21, was charged with providing false information to a law enforcement officer Friday, which is a 3rd-degree felony, in addition to the murder and child abuse charges she also faces.

Stinson appeared in a Pinellas County Court Friday afternoon on the new charge.  She didn’t say much during the short hearing.

Largo police say Stinson fabricated the story of her being beaten up by a person she identified as "Antwan" after getting a ride from him late Saturday night. She told police she woke up a few hours later and her son, two-year-old Jordan Belliveau, was missing.

An Amber Alert was issued Sunday morning and volunteers, along with law enforcement, scoured the area where he was reported missing for days. Stinson later told police that she had hit Jordan in the head and he died. 

His body was found in the woods on Tuesday. It’s unclear whether Jordan was still alive when Stinson allegedly left him in the wooded area.

The case uncovered a long history of court orders and custody hearings involving Jordan, who spent 18 months with a foster family before being reunited with his mother in May. 

A Pinellas County judge agreed to reunify him with his parents two days after they were involved in a physical confrontation over the boy, newly released documents showed, an incident of which the judge was not made aware.

The judge was acting on recommendations filed by a magistrate a week earlier, based on information gathered June 11.

There did not appear to be a system in place to ensure the judge got information of the new charges before granting final approval.

The foster family caring for Jordan, Sam and Juliet Warren, had tried to adopt Jordan and expressed their devastation this week over his loss, saying the system had failed Jordan. 

"He was failed by many people who should have protected him but didn’t. Promises that were made to us about how he would be protected after his return were broken," the Warrens said. "Ultimately, we hope that our painful loss will result in a fundamental reexamination of the entire system, of how foster care works, [and] of the reunification process. Jordan deserves that and the other children in the system deserve that."