Mother of 6-Week-Old Boy at Project Warm Is Charged with Aggravated Child Abuse After Discovery of Burns

Jessica Marie Jordan, a 35-year-old resident of Project Warm, the behavioral health program in Bunnell for pregnant women and young mothers who have battled addiction, is at the Flagler County jail, facing two grave child abuse charges after her 6-week-old child was found to have burn marks that were several days old.

Jordan has been a client, or resident, at Project Warm since May 2. She previously sustained a traumatic brain injury and has mental challenges. Jeffrey Kramer, a senior clinician at Project Warm, described Jordan to a Bunnell police officer as having the mental capacity of a 13-year-old child.




Staffers and residents police interviewed expressed numerous concerns about Jordan’s ability to care for her child and filed numerous complaints with the Department of Children and Families, which investigated, but found insufficient evidence to indicate abuse. That was before the burn marks were discovered.

As a resident at Project Warm, Jordan was almost constantly at the Bunnell facility on Justice Lane, and had had her pass privileges revoked in late December. She could still leave the property for medical or Health Department appointments, and did so on five occasions between Dec. 29 and Jan. 10, but always with a staff member driving her and picking her up from the given locations.

Jordan’s child, John (a fictitious name for the purpose of this article), was born on Nov. 23. The police investigation into allegations of abuse began on Jan. 11, the day after Jordan had gone to an eye doctor with her child, and handed him over to daycare staff at the doctor’s office while she was having her consultation. It was daycare staff that discovered injuries on the child and reported them to the Department of Children and Families. John was taken to the hospital on Jan. 10.




The next day a Child Protection Team forensic nurse at Advent Medical center in Daytona Beach determined that John had suffered “intentional ‘brand’ burns to his upper left chest and left shoulder area consistent with a cigarette burn,” according to Bunnell Police’s investigation. The forensic nurse told police that she “highly believes the injury was done to the child between three and seven days prior. Furthermore, the child appeared to be malnourished and underweight.”

Jordan told a Bunnell police officer that she used to consume drugs and smoke, but had stopped at Project Warm, where neither is permitted. When the officer asked her why her child had been taken to the hospital, she said “it looks like someone burned him and I was not around any smoke or anything and I had not smoked any cigarettes.” The officer, Jefferson Traylor–who has been with the Bunnell Police Department since July 2022–remarked that he’d not informed Jordan by that point that John had suffered any types of burns.

Jordan confirmed to the officer that she alone had been around the child, and that the only thing she could think of that could have harmed him was when she gave him a bath, or that she may have pinched him inadvertently with a pacifier clip. Nevertheless, she said she knew that her child had the injuries for the previous three days, and that when she realized he was injured, she did nothing, nor did she attempt to treat the burns. She did not think the injuries were serious, and did not want to get in trouble.




A few other clients had cared for John for brief periods–matters of minutes–from time to time as Jordan needed a break. The clients spoke with the officer, none knowing of the burns–but each of them speaking different concerns, whether it was the careless way that Jordan held her child, with his head unsupported, the way she bathed him, or did not change his diaper frequently enough, or did not have enough formula for him on certain off-campus trips. Staffers filled out so-called “parental observation forms” noting some of the issues. One staffer admitted that she should have done more than fill out the form, such as informing her supervisor and calling the DCF hotline.

As the investigation carried on, Jordan–who has previously lost custody of another child, now 13, and was previously charged with child abuse and found guilty of contributing to the delinquency of a minora year ago–became increasingly frightened about her fate.

Circuit Judge Chris France signed a warrant for Jordan’s arrest on Monday (Jan. 29).Jordan was charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect of a child causing great harm, each a second degree felony, and booked at the Flagler County jail on $70,000 bond, where she remains.