Child: Mother said he was going to meet God before being rolled off Shreveport bridge

By VICKIE WELBORN

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    SHREVEPORT, Louisiana (KTBS) — His mother told him he was going to meet God. That’s when she rolled him off the Cross Lake bridge, and he make a “big splash.”

“It felt like a cannonball,” Elijah Black said.

It wasn’t fun and he doesn’t want to meet God again.

That’s the description Elijah gave child services investigators four days after his mother, Ureka Black, 34, dropped him and his infant brother from the bridge. Ten-month-old Joshua Black did not survive.

Ureka Black is charged with second-degree murder in Joshua’s death and attempted second-degree murder for injuring Elijah. She’s pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of insanity.

Elijah’s description of what took place on that Friday afternoon on Sept. 24, 2021 is included in a report prepared by the state Department of Children and Family Services and filed into the court record in connection with Black’s upcoming trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday in Caddo District Court.

In addition to Elijah, interviews with Ureka Black, her teenage daughter, her three sisters and first responders are included in the 22-page report.

Ureka Black’s attorneys initially said she was not competent to stand trial. However, she was examined by two phychiatrists as part of a sanity commission, and both said she was competent.

During an interview with DCFS on Oct. 19, 2021, Ureka Black expressed love for her children. And she told investigators if there was anything she could tell Elijah about what happened she would say “it was the monster.” The monster is not a particular person, she said, but anything that anyone is afraid of or doesn’t understand.

She talked about her fractured relationship with family members and accused various ones of abusing and mistreating her children. She essentially was homeless, having left Shreveport to move to Texas then returning because she and the children didn’t have a place to stay.

When talking about the “incident,” Ureka Black told the DCFS investigator she remembered going to sleep in her car. She started crying when thinking about Joshua and said she would hug and kiss him if she could and tell him she loves him.

Investigators determined Ureka Black drove Elijah and Joshua over the Cross Lake bridge then threw both over so they could “meet with God.”

Shreveport police Cpl. Garrett Hayes told the DCFS investigator he got a call from a Pointe Place property owner about a child found floating in the lake. A lawn crew noticed the child.

Mason Guy, a lake patrol officer, went out on his boat to make sure other watercraft stayed out of the area. A boater went up to him and said a person in long pants and a shirt was “swimming” on the other side of the bridge without a life jacket on.

At first, the officer thought the boater was “just talking,” but then he saw something make a ripple in the water and he saw Elijah floating on his back with his eyes closed. He thought the child was dead because he was not moving.

Guy said, “Hey, little man,” and Elijah opened an eye and started to panic. Guy grabbed his left arm but began to loose his grip. And he knew if he let go the child would go under.

So, Guy told Elijah to hold his arm while he grabbed his pants and pulled him into the boat. He snuggled Elijah close to him then “flew the boat onto the rocks” on the shore. That’s when Elijah went limp.

First-responders were about to perform CPR when they realized Elijah was alive and breathing. His left side was bruised, and the left side of his face was swollen and bruised, leaving officers to speculate Elijah hit the water on his left side.

There was no explanation as to how Elijah remained afloat. Investigators said their measurements indicate Elijah fell roughly 77 to 80 feet from the bridge.

Elijah was found about a half-mile from where Joshua was located. Joshua’s body was already in rigor mortis. Investigators “assume” the brothers had been in the water an hour or two hours before they were found.

During their separate interviews, Ureka Black’s three sisters said they did not know what happened or why. All described Ureka Black as overly protective of her children, which also included an older daughter who was in her grandmother’s custody. Ureka Black did not want even family members taking photographs of the children.

One sister speculated Ureka Black may have taken some type of pills the night before. Another said Ureka Black was severely burned when she was a child and always had mental health concerns. She often isolated herself from her family.

Ureka Black’s mother heard her daughter had been sleeping in her car for about six months and was in a state of depression because she could not get a job. She claimed her daughter took Ecstasy pills the night before her sons were thrown into the lake.

Elijah was interviewed at the Gingerbread House four days after his rescue. He described spending the day with his mother, her friend and his brother at a motel. They went to a store and got snacks for his older sister, dropped his mother’s friend off then took the snacks to his sister.

Ureka Black fixed a bottle for Joshua, and he went to sleep. She drove to the bridge, got out and opened his door.

Elijah said his mother told him to get out of the van because he “needed to go with God.” Then she rolled him off the bridge.

Elijah said he was tired of talking about the bridge, so the forensic interviewer stopped asking questions. But then he said she could ask one more question.

She asked Elijah where Joshua was. He told her Joshua did not go into the water because he could not swim. He said he was the only one who went into the water. The interview ended.

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