A Cass Lake woman was sentenced Monday, March 24, for the 2023 murder of her 2-year-old son in Cass County.
Larena Renee Jackson, 31, of Cass Lake, entered a guilty plea on Feb. 10, 2025, to felony second-degree unintentional murder while committing a felony. The plea agreement makes note her charge carries aggravating factors for an upward departure in sentencing, citing the victim was particularly vulnerable.
On Monday, Jackson was sentenced to serve 210 months confinement (17.5 years). She received 581 days credit for time served and was fined $977. All other charges were dismissed as part of the plea agreement.
Jackson Told Responding Deputies the Child was Run Over and Not Breathing
According to court documents, the Cass County Sheriff's Office responded to a call on Aug. 19, 2023, where a child was reportedly run over by a vehicle at 9:34 p.m. on the 14000 block of White Stone Loop, south of Cass Lake.
When deputies arrived, they were told the child was run over and was not breathing. They began lifesaving efforts until emergency medical personnel arrived and transported the boy by ambulance to Sanford Hospital in Bemidji. He was then flown to Sanford Hospital in Fargo, North Dakota, with numerous life-threatening injuries.
When investigators arrived on scene, they learned Jackson told deputies she had a disagreement with the child's father. Jackson said the father took the child and left in his personal vehicle shortly after her mother left the residence, which was around 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Aug. 19, 2023.
Jackson told deputies the father contacted her later that night and told her he was leaving the child in the road down the street and she believed the child had been run over, presumably by the father.
Jackson Made Several Contradictory Statements, Blood and Cleaning Supplies Found at Her Residence
A subsequent investigation revealed the father was at his residence in Bemidji and he had not recently been in the Cass Lake area. When deputies asked to see her phone log, Jackson was not able to show the father called and she told them her phone was dead when she received the call.
When asked how she knew he called, she told the deputy, "he called me and I told him my phone was dead." She then suggested it may have been on her tablet. Upon retrieving her tablet, she said it was broken and mentioned it doesn't receive phone calls.
Deputies reported getting multiple stories from Jackson of the evening's events and blood was observed in numerous locations throughout the home. They also saw cleaning products in the kitchen and a bottle of hydrogen peroxide on the floor near the front door.
Child Looked as if He Had Been Cleaned Up Before Deputies Arrived
A sheriff's deputy also noted the child had been wrapped in a towel and when the deputy attempted to move closer to Jackson, she would step back and pull the child closer to her as if to conceal him from sight.
The unconscious child did not have any blood, dry or wet, on his body, other than the top of his head from an obvious laceration. It looked as if the child had been cleaned up prior to the deputy's arrival. The child had multiple lacerations to his head, which were actively bleeding.
Jackson Changed Her Story Again, Claiming She Fell While She was Carrying the Child
Investigators then took a recorded statement from Jackson where she admitted the child was not run over by a vehicle. Instead she said she had been carrying the child in the street after she picked him up from having been left by the father. She told officers she fell while carrying the child and subsequently caused the injuries.
She denied anyone else assaulted or otherwise harmed the child and told officers she had taken the child inside and attempted to clean his injuries in the bathtub, also telling officers a relative came to the house and told her to report the incident to law enforcement.
A search of the house later revealed a bedroom wall above the bed with indentations consistent with the shape of a toddler's head, which had apparent blood spatter on them as well. Her son later died on the evening Aug. 24, 2023, from a cardiac arrest event.
