(Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of child abuse and sexual assault that some readers may find disturbing.)
Authorities have arrested two people in connection with the alleged abuse of a five-year-old child in the Oklahoma City metro, but the child has not been found after disappearing more than three years ago, police say.
London Kerr was last seen in April 2022, police believe, when she went missing from a southeast OKC apartment complex. London was two years old at the time.
Ashley Ceejay Rowland, 39, London's mother; and Joshua Paul Denton, 40, Rowland's boyfriend; were arrested Tuesday, Aug. 5, and booked into the Cleveland County jail on multiple complaints, records show.
Denton faces nine felony charges, including six felony counts of child abuse, one count of forcible sodomy, one count of lewd or indecent acts to a child, and one count of a pattern of criminal offenses.
Rowland has been charged with one count of enabling child abuse. She had previously faced charges of abandonment of a child in Oklahoma County District Court last year.
Online court records did not list attorneys for Rowland or Denton. As of Aug. 7, jail records showed Denton was being held on a total bond amount of at least $504,500, and Rowland was being held on a $300,000 bond.
After months of assisting in the case, the Oklahoma City Police Department is now the lead agency investigating London's disappearance, with aid from the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation. Moore police had previously been searching for clues to track Kerr down ― to no avail.
"Since Rowland's arrest (last fall), Moore Police and Detectives have searched multiple properties, storage units, and electronic devices regarding London's birth certificates, social security information, clothing, toys, or anything that could lead to identifying London or her whereabouts," the department said in a press release at the time.
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Court filings show how details in the case first came to light, after the state's Department of Human Services could not locate London during a pickup order in April 2023.
According to an arrest affidavit written by a Moore police officer, Rowland initially said that the baby was with her father in Georgia, but investigators later learned that her story wasn't true.
When interviewed again by police, Rowland allegedly confessed that she gave London to a man she identified as "Carlos," from whom she bought methamphetamine in 2022, according to the affidavit.
That's the last time she said she saw London, who would've been two years old, Rowland said. Per the affidavit, she also told police that "Carlos" claimed he was going to Mexico at the time, and that she did not give "Carlos" any of London's personal identification documents.
Investigation uncovers disturbing allegations of child abuse toward missing child, other family members
According to another affidavit written by an OKC police officer, after Rowland was arrested on the child abandonment charge and booked into the Oklahoma County jail in late October, police learned she had other children, including a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old.
OKC police interviewed the teenagers, one of whom alleged that Denton was physically abusive toward both of them and London, according to the affidavit. Graphic descriptions from the interviews include accusations of Denton hitting London with a wooden paddle, shooting a BB gun at her and the other children, and duct-taping the 15-year-old to a chair and beating him with a belt.
The affidavit also cites interviews in late March with Denton's own 8-year-old daughter and 10-year-old son, who alleged that Denton was physically abusive toward them, as well. His children also told investigators that Denton poured hot sauce in London's eyes on more than one occasion and locked her in the closet, threatening to beat the children if they told London's mother.
In addition, according to the affidavit, Denton's daughter revealed to investigators that her father had sexually abused her. Per the court filings, she said her father had warned her not to tell anyone or she would die.
At least two of the interviewed minors said Rowland would have known about the abuse they experienced from Denton ― including Denton's daughter, who alleged that she told Rowland about what her father had been doing to London after Rowland saw him force-feed the baby a hot pepper, according to the affidavit.
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As investigators questioned Rowland about Denton's alleged abuse of her children, she denied any knowledge of it and claimed Denton was never abusive to London. She admitted, however, that she "had told people different things in the past than what really happened" with "Carlos," and detectives said they were not able to verify Carlos' existence, according to the affidavit.
Moore police secured a search warrant for a storage unit belonging to Rowland and Denton, where they recovered a BB gun and a wooden paddle with "The Last Resort" written on it, as well as a pink baby blanket, diapers, a pink shoe, and a car seat, according to the affidavit.
Potentially complicating a timeline for investigators even further, a daycare worker told police during the first half of 2025 that she’d last seen London with Rowland at a gas station more than two years prior. According to the affidavit, Rowland told the daycare worker that bruises she’d seen on London’s head were from a car accident.
Due to the nature of her disappearance, police now consider London Kerr "endangered" and are expressing extreme concern for her safety. Even after the arrests of Denton and Rowland, police said they still had been given "a lack of credible information" on the child's whereabouts.
OKC police Sgt. Dillon Quirk, a spokesman for the department, told KOCO-TV that more work was needing to be done in the investigation going forward.
"Time is of the essence, still hoping for a positive turnout in this case, and we don't have a lot to go off of right now, which makes it extremely difficult," Quirk said.
Investigators hope someone will come forward with critical information leading police to locate the child safely. Spokespeople for the police encouraged anyone with information to reach out to the department's Homicide Tip Line at 405-297-1200 or Crime Stoppers at 405-235-7300.
If London Kerr is still alive, she will turn six years old in early September.
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC police arrest 2 in case of missing toddler. Child still missing
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