A 29-year-old Tuscaloosa woman charged with felony child abuse in the death of her 9-month-old son has died while being held at the Tuscaloosa County Jail. Ja'keisa Knox experienced a medical emergency at the jail, according to the Sheriff's Office, and was transported to DCH Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.
Knox's death comes roughly three months after she was arrested in connection with the death of her infant son, Sakai Howard, as reported by WBRC. The Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit is now investigating the circumstances of Knox's death, the same multi-agency team that originally probed the infant's death. The VCU conducts death investigations and is staffed by personnel from multiple agencies.
An Infant Found Unresponsive After Hours Alone
Sakai Howard died in late June after allegedly being left home alone for about eight hours, according to the WBRC report. Investigators say Knox, who was the infant's sole caregiver, left her apartment on 21st Avenue East in Tuscaloosa around 8 a.m. to go to work and did not return until around 4 p.m. Knox told police she left her son home unsupervised while she worked as a DoorDash delivery driver, according to a report from Muriel Bailey TV.
When Knox returned to the apartment, she found Sakai unresponsive and called 911 around 4 p.m. on June 30, 2026. Emergency responders and police initially responded to the scene at Aspen Village Apartments, according to Tuscaloosa Patch. Sakai was taken by ambulance to DCH, where he later died. Medical personnel found the infant had numerous physical injuries and was extremely underweight, and those findings prompted a call to the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit.
Charges, No Bond, and a Family's Grief
Knox was subsequently charged with felony child abuse. She was held without bond. Alabama's Aniah's Law, passed by the state Legislature in 2021, amended the state constitution, Code, and Rules of Criminal Procedure and allows the state to seek pretrial detention for certain offenses, including aggravated child abuse, according to the Polson Law Firm. Under Alabama law, felony child abuse carries penalties of up to 10 years in prison as a Class C felony, while aggravated child abuse is a Class B felony carrying sentences up to 20 years, per FindLaw.
Sakai's father, Santavier Richey, said he learned of his son's death through social media posts before launching a GoFundMe campaign to help cover funeral expenses, according to a local news interview reported by WBRC. Funeral services for the infant were held July 18, 2026, at Wills Funeral Service in Northport.
A Second Death Raises Questions About Jail Oversight
Knox's death marks at least the second in-custody death tied to the Tuscaloosa County Jail in roughly a year. In August 2025, 29-year-old inmate Tarius Washington died after being found unresponsive following an altercation at the jail, and another detainee faced manslaughter charges. In February 2026, the Violent Crimes Unit also opened an investigation after a 33-year-old man suffered a medical emergency and died following an encounter with Tuscaloosa Police officers, per the Tuscaloosa Thread report.
The Violent Crimes Unit itself is a specialized team combining detectives from the Tuscaloosa, Northport, and University of Alabama Police Departments alongside the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office, tasked with investigating violent crimes and in-custody fatalities across the county. The exact medical cause of Knox's death has not been released, and it remains unclear whether any institutional care or oversight issues at the jail played a role in her death.
