Mother of 4-year-old boy who died 11 years ago waits at Pompano Beach detention center

FORT LAUDERDALE, Florida. – Antwan “AJ” Hope, Jr. was four years old when he died in Broward County more than 11 years ago. His mother, Destene Simmons, was re-charged in Broward County with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse, but it was unclear Sunday whether those were related to his death.

According to St. Lucie County Sheriff's inmate records, the Port St. Lucie Police Department arrested Simmons, 34, and took her into custody on Aug. 2 on the two Broward County charges. After extraditing her, Broward Sheriff's Office officials transported her to Fort Lauderdale Main Jail on Friday.

Simmons appeared before Broward County District Judge Joseph Murphy III on Saturday. Her court appearance lasted about one minute and 12 seconds. Attorney Devika Carr, a public defender, requested an order from Murphy for a mental health evaluation. Murphy ordered an evaluation and appointed a public defender.

“The court advises the defendant at this time that he may not speak to anyone about this case without the presence of his attorney,” Murphy told Simmons in court.

As of Sunday afternoon, Simmons' court records still included the 2011 child support case that prosecutors dropped – but not the new murder case. Corrections officials had transferred Simmons from the main jail to the North Broward Bureau in Pompano Beach.

Murphy denied Simmons' bail on the murder charge and set her bail on the aggravated child abuse charge at $25,000.

Local 10 News did not have a copy of the new arrest warrant, but reported extensively on Antwan's death in 2013.

Antwan had just finished preschool when Simmons, then 23, called and hung up on 911 several times on June 10, 2013, before finally asking for police to come to her Coral Springs home. The officers who arrived found Antwan dead.

Before the tragedy, Simmons was being investigated by the Florida Department of Children and Families for alleged child abuse. The department removed Antwan from his parents' home in 2011 and temporarily placed him with his paternal aunt, Deborah Jackson.

While the investigation was ongoing, Antwan's father, then 28-year-old Antwan Hope Sr., accused DCF and ChildNet, a DCF contractor, of leaving his son alone with Simmons. Jackson and Walker told the Miami Herald they agreed.

“They left him for dead,” Jackson told the Miami Herald after the boy's first unsupervised visit with his mother since she tried to kill him in 2011 ended fatally.

This is a developing story. Local 10 News Assignment Desk Editor Joyce Grace Ortega and Planning Editor Frine Gomez contributed to this report.

St. Lucie County Inmate Records

Bounty Hunter Record for Prisoner in Broward

Archive (2013)