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Death of boy tied to mother, boyfriend, police say

December 5, 2006

GADSDEN, Alabama (CNN) -- Police believe the mother of a 5-year-old boy and her boyfriend staged his abduction -- which led to an Amber Alert -- to cover up his death as a result of "physical abuse and trauma," Sheriff James Hayes said Tuesday.

The body of Geontae Glass was found early Tuesday in his mother's car at her boyfriend's apartment in Rainbow City, outside Gadsden, Hayes said.

The mother, Shalinda Glass, and her boyfriend, Kevin Andre Towles, have been arrested but charges have not been filed. That is the next step, said Hayes, sheriff of Etowah County.

"We believe the evidence is going to show that these two -- in different acts, in different roles in the tragedy -- caused the death of this young fellow," Hayes said at a news conference.

Police believe the 5-year-old was dead when Glass and Towles staged the fake abduction at a gas station in Albertville, about 20 miles north of Rainbow City.

On Monday, Glass told police she left her son sleeping in the back seat of her car with the engine running and went inside the gas station's convenience store with her 7-year-old daughter when an unknown man got out of a pickup truck and stole her car with her son inside, according to media reports.

That prompted an Amber Alert, which was canceled early Tuesday after police discovered it was a "hoax," Hayes said.

Police believe the man who took Glass' car was Towles, Hayes said. Early Tuesday, police found the mother's car and Towles' pickup truck inside a locked garage at Towles' residence in Shady Grove, about 10 miles south of Albertville.

The boy's body was inside the mother's car, police said.

The Amber Alert helped police crack the case, Hayes told The Associated Press, because it might have prevented the suspects from disposing of Glass' car.

Glass and Towles were arrested at her apartment in Rainbow City, about 15 miles away.

"We do expect others to be arrested, how many we don't know," Hayes said.

District attorneys from Etowah and Marshall counties are considering which charges to file in which counties. Police found an "eight-ball" of cocaine (one-eighth ounce), more than $33,000 in cash, an AK-47 and a 30-round clip of ammunition at Towles' residence, Hayes said.

Hayes told the AP that Towles had several residences, and evidence discovered at an Albertville house led them to the Etowah County residence.

"We believe this is what he thought was his safe house, where nobody knew where he was," Hayes said.

"We believe there was the intent to cause the death which would give the rise to a homicide or capital murder charge, if circumstances pan out," said Etowah District Attorney Jimmy Harp.

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Geontae is laid to rest; authorities charge Shalinda Glass with capital murder
'It's obvious to me she played significant role,' Etowah County DA says

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
By DAVID BREWER
Huntsville Times Staff Writer

GADSDEN - On the day 5-year-old Geontae Glass was buried, his mother was charged with capital murder in his beating death.

Etowah County District Attorney Jimmie Harp said Monday the decision to charge Shalinda Glass in her child's death was based on forensics evidence.

"After meeting with a team of prosecutors and investigators, it was not only appropriate, but our duty" to charge her with capital murder, he said in an interview Monday.

"It's obvious to me she played a significant role in his death," Harp said at a news conference.

Geontae was buried Monday afternoon at Cherokee Memory Gardens in Centre in Cherokee County after visitation at the nearby Shiloh Baptist Church.

About 75 friends and relatives stood outside the small, red brick church from about 11 a.m. to wait for Geontae's grandmother, Linda Glass, and other family members, who arrived about 12:30 p.m. They stayed inside the church until the end of visitation at 2 p.m. and then joined the procession to the cemetery about two miles away.

Harp said Shalinda Glass' request to go to her son's funeral was denied.

"Obviously, with the charges against her, it's not something we usually do," he said.

Harp said his office will seek the death penalty for both Glass and her boyfriend, Kevin Andre "Dre" Towles, 31, of Mountainboro, who is also charged with capital murder.

According to the forensic report, he said, Geontae "had a horrible, protracted death. We're still investigating why somebody would be so brutal."

Harp said the boy died from blunt force trauma - a beating. He received serious injuries to his lower abdomen and back, he said.

Harp said the forensic evidence against Glass includes blood stains, hair fibers and the time of death.

Glass, 25, of Rainbow City had been held without bond on a charge of hindering prosecution since the discovery of Geontae's body early Dec. 5 in the trunk of a car at her boyfriend's house. Glass had told Albertville police Dec. 4 that someone had stolen her car from a convenience store while Geontae was sleeping in the back seat.

A Jan. 18 preliminary hearing in District Court has been set for Glass and Towles. Both are being held without bond in the Etowah County Jail in Gadsden.

Devra Williams of Huntsville and her 2-year-old daughter, Bakari Bryant, viewed their cousin's body at the church.

"I looked at his eyelashes and hers, and they were the same," Williams said. "Whatever he was going through, he looked peaceful now."

Williams said Geontae got his hair cut at her T&B's Braid and Barber Shop in Centre until it closed about a year ago and she moved to Huntsville. That was about the last time that she said she had seen him and his mother.

Williams said she detected something wrong with Shalinda Glass at that time.

"She seemed depressed, like something more or less was heavy on her heart," she said.

"I can't say that I'm mad at her," Williams said. "But I really hope God is in her favor, and that she prays to Him every day. We still love her a lot."

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Mother of Geontae Glass Appears Before Judge

December 18, 2006
NewsChannel 19's Carson Clark reports:


A local mother accused of helping murder her five-year-old son appeared before an Etowah County judge this morning.

Shalinda Glass, the mother of Geontae Glass, appeared before Etowah County District Judge Wayne Owen. A prosecutor with the Etowah County District Attorney's office asked Judge Owen to drop the charge of hindering prosecution against Glass, and the judge agreed.

NewsChannel 19 was the only north Alabama television station in the courtroom today.

Glass and her boyfriend, Kevin Towles, are both charged in the death of Geontae Glass, who was the subject of an Amber Alert on December fourth, which later turned out to be a hoax.

Shalinda Glass' next court date is not set. There's also no court date yet for Towles. Both are being held in the Etowah County Jail.