"He took my baby away from me," Shelly Maddox said just moments after seeing her children's father in court via video from the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
Jose Rojas, 35, is accused of killing the couple's 4-month-old son.
JaSeir was unresponsive when his father called 911 from their Mays Landing home on Jan. 29.
The father was home alone with JaSeir, the baby's twin brother and his 1-year-old brother.
Rojas would tell police that the baby rolled off the bed. But the injuries were inconsistent with a fall, unless it was from a height of at least 30 feet, doctors found.
Maddox never heard about a fall until reports of Rojas' arrest included that detail.
Rojas told her he had been lying on the bed with their son when Jaseir had a seizure.
She was driving back from a funeral in North Carolina when Rojas called to tell her the ambuland was there to take their son to the hospital.
Still about six hours away, "I'm hysterical," Maddox recalled.
She called the hospital to let them know her son was on his way. But soon she learned the injuries were so severe, the baby was being transferred to Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
Once she got there, the news would just get worse.
"When I left, my baby was healthy," she said. "I came back and my baby's on life support."
The baby suffered severe trauma. Several tests were done, but the news was not good.
On Feb. 4, JaSeir died.
Maddox never saw Rojas again until he appeared via video from the Atlantic County Justice Facility.
"I'm angry," she said. "I'm hurt and I just want justice for my son."
Rojas will be back in court Thursday for a detention hearing. It's likely he will be ordered held.
His public safety assessment, used under bail reform, recommends detention. He scored a five out of six for failure to appear and a six out of six for likelihood to commit another crime, the judge said.
Rojas has a pending criminal case in Camden County and a criminal history, the judge said, without giving details.
Maddox said she will be at every court hearing she can. Wednesday she brought along her sister and JaSeir's fraternal twin brother, who slept soundly as his mother talked about his brother, who was born last.
"He was the baby," Maddox said. "The pain is indescribable."
Rojas is charged with aggravated manslaughter, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
