Custodial dad charged with murdering 3-year-old son had two previous murder charges (Houston, Texas)

Gotta love the Daily Mail. They dig up stuff the Yanks never seem to get around to finding.

Take custodial dad RODERICK FOUNTAIN, who is accused of murdering this 3-year-old son back in 2006.  Just yesterday we reported that he had a history of armed robbery. Now we find out that he TWO PREVIOUS MURDER CHARGES as well.

So, the question from yesterday deserves to be reasked: What judicial geniuses down there in the Lone Star State thought it would be a great idea to give a father with this kind of criminal history custody of a preschooler?

Come on, all you Texas reporters. Let's find out how this little boy ended up in this home. Before the Brits beat you to it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2047497/Father-stand-trial-murdering-son-3-years-boy-disappeared-trace.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

Father to stand trial for murdering son, 3, five years after the boy disappeared without a trace

By Daily Mail Reporter

Last updated at 9:08 AM on 11th October 2011

Five years after three-year-old Kendrick Jackson disappeared from his home his father will be tried for the boy's murder.

Roderick Fountain, 37, from Houston Texas, is accused of murdering his son and hiding the body after he vanished in April 2006.

'We believe he's dead,' Assistant Director Attorney Connie Spence said, according to The Houston Chronicle. 'But we do not have a body, and we do not anticipate having a body by the time this goes to trial.'

Prosecutors believe the child died by the hand of his father- a convicted felon with two previous murder charges as well as a robbery conviction in 1997.

Prosecutors hope testimony by witnesses who saw the boy bruised before his disappearance will aid their case against Fountain who was in possession of the boy the Friday he claims he went missing.

It is believed the court will also hear a jail-house confession by Fountain to another inmate.

Kendrick's disappearance five years ago drove thousands on a hunt for the boy after he was reported missing by both Fountain and the child's mother, Keyanna Jackson.

Ms Jackson, who says the boy was at his father's Houston apartment when he disappeared, says she received a call that morning telling her that her son had vanished.

'His father called me around 10:30 to say Kendrick is gone,' Ms Jackson said that April, according to Click2Houston.

'He must have opened the door and walked out the door. His daddy went looking for him all over and he can't find him. Nobody can find him,' Ms Jackson said.

Grieving mother: Keyanna Jackson shown following the disappearance of her child, Kendrick
'I'm scared. I want my son. I don't know where he's at. I'm scared to death,' she added.

Arrested in connection to the disappearance, Fountain was released on a $100,000 bond days after, only to return a day later on federal firearms charges.

He is currently serving 15 years for those firearms charges, being a convicted felon found in possession of a 12-gauge shotgun during a search of his Houston home.

In the wait of this week's trial, however, with little new leads and evidence over the past several years, search volunteers have grown glum in hope little Kendrick will ever be found.

'I was really hoping that this would end with a plea bargain, and he would say where little Kendrick's body was,' Tim Miller, founder and director of Texas EquuSearch, an organization leading a search, told the Houston Chronicle.

'Unfortunately, it looks like Kendrick is going to be one of them that's just never found,' Mr Miller said.
If convicted, Fountain faces a maximum life sentencing in jail.