The boy was 11 when prosecutors say he broke through a closet wall and jumped from a second-story window.
NEWNAN, GA — A Georgia woman has been sentenced to 40 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from years of abuse of her adopted son, who escaped at age 11 by breaking through sheetrock in a locked bedroom closet and jumping from a second-story window, prosecutors said.
Chloe Jackson-Jones, 42, pleaded guilty Sept. 30 in Coweta County Superior Court to aggravated assault by strangulation, two counts of false imprisonment and 17 counts of first-degree cruelty to children, according to the Coweta Judicial Circuit District Attorney’s Office. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison followed by 20 years of probation as part of a negotiated plea agreement.
The case began on July 5, 2023, when the boy escaped from Jackson-Jones’ Newnan home, prosecutors said. The child had been locked inside a bedroom closet when he began tearing through the sheetrock. After getting through the wall, he escaped through a second-story window. A neighborhood resident later saw him walking down the street and called 911 after learning that he was hungry.
Prosecutors said the boy weighed about 61 pounds when he escaped at age 11. Newnan police opened an investigation, and the child was placed in the custody of the Georgia Division of Family and Children Services. Authorities said the investigation uncovered evidence showing that the abuse had continued for years and had become increasingly severe as the child became more isolated from people outside the home.
Jackson-Jones adopted the boy in May 2019, when he was 8 years old, according to prosecutors. Authorities said abusive behavior began early and became systematic by 2020, when she removed him from public school for virtual learning. Prosecutors said she later kept him out of traditional school while describing his education as homeschooling, further limiting his regular contact with people outside the household.
Investigators recovered photographs and videos from Jackson-Jones’ cellphone that prosecutors said documented abuse described by the child. The evidence showed that he had been denied food, restrained, confined inside a closet, forced to remain in difficult positions for extended periods and subjected to physical assaults, prosecutors said. They also alleged that he had been strangled until he lost consciousness. Each of the 17 cruelty-to-children counts represented a separate act, according to the District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors said the negotiated plea agreement avoided the need for the boy to testify at trial about the abuse. The District Attorney’s Office said that consideration played a role in accepting the agreement. District Attorney Herb Cranford said his office would have sought a life sentence if state law had allowed that punishment for the offenses involved.
The child, now 14, gave a victim-impact statement during the sentencing proceeding, according to prosecutors. The District Attorney’s Office did not publicly release the contents of the statement. Authorities said he is now living in a stable home and doing well in school.
The July 2023 escape ultimately led police and child welfare authorities to investigate conditions inside the home and brought the abuse case into the criminal justice system. More than three years later, Jackson-Jones’ guilty plea resolved the prosecution without a trial, and she now faces decades in state custody followed by probation.
Author note: Last updated October 8, 2026.