A Bradley County grand jury has indicted two family members on charges of felony murder and aggravated child abuse or neglect after a 7-year-old drowned in a pond at a private home in southeastern Bradley County. Jean Marie Kell, 68, and Dennis Ray Page, 40, both of Old Fort, Tennessee, were booked into the Bradley County Jail on $150,000 bond each after being arrested by sheriff's deputies.
According to Local 3 News, the Bradley County Sheriff's Office says Kell and Page were responsible for the child's care at the time of the drowning and are related to the victim. Paramedics transported the child to a local hospital, where medical teams pronounced the child dead. Sheriff's deputies opened their investigation after first responders received a report of a 7-year-old found in the pond.
The drowning happened on July 13, 2026, meaning the grand jury's indictments came after roughly two months of investigative work, as reported by 3B Media News. The case was handled by the Crimes Against Persons Unit within the Bradley County Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigations Division.
What the Charges Mean Under Tennessee Law
The felony murder charge against Kell and Page stems from a provision of Tennessee law that does not require prosecutors to prove intent to kill. Under Tennessee Code Annotated § 39-13-202(a)(2), a death resulting from the perpetration of aggravated child abuse or neglect is classified as first-degree felony murder, per FindLaw's compilation of the Tennessee code.
The aggravated child abuse or neglect charge also carries steep exposure because of the victim's age. Under T.C.A. § 39-15-402, aggravated child abuse or neglect involving a child under 8 is elevated to a Class A felony, which carries a statutory prison sentence ranging from 15 to 60 years, according to N. Cate Law.
Old Fort is an unincorporated community in Polk County, with a population of roughly 3,400 residents, according to demographic data compiled by Simplemaps.
A Statewide Pattern of Preventable Deaths
The Old Fort case adds to a grim statewide picture of child mortality in Tennessee. The Tennessee Department of Health recorded 479 child deaths among ages 1 to 17 in 2023, producing a state child fatality rate of 32.4 per 100,000 that was 39.1% higher than the national average. Twenty-two children died from drowning across Tennessee that same year.
For now, the exact circumstances that led investigators to allege aggravated child neglect in this case remain unclear. Kell and Page face the charges as the case moves through the court system.
