JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The mother of a toddler at the center of one of the biggest missing child cases in the Jacksonville area was released from prison on Wednesday after serving time in connection with his death.
Lonna Barton pleaded guilty to child neglect in the death of her 21-month-old son, Lonzie, whose remains were found 172 days after he was reported missing by Lonna’s boyfriend, William “Ruben” Ebron, in July 2015.
In exchange for a plea deal, Ebron ended months of searching for Lonzie’s body by leading investigators to a wooded area off Interstate 295 in Bayard in January 2016.
Both Ebron and Lonna Barton pleaded guilty to charges in connection with Lonzie’s death.
Lonna Barton walked out of the Baker County Detention Facility early Wednesday morning, 10 years after the ordeal that gripped the community began.
Ebron continues serving a 20-year sentence in Florida prison for aggravated manslaughter of a child.
Lonna Barton was sentenced to five years for child neglect, but drug charges out of Baker County landed her with additional time, and she was released Wednesday.
Infamous case
Lonzie’s name became known around the city when Ebron reported him missing around 2 a.m. on July 24, 2015.
Police had their suspicions about the situation from the start, and it later turned out Lonzie had been dead for two days before Ebron called police.
The story Ebron first told police was that his car was stolen with a boy named Aaron inside.
The car was found about 20 minutes later with no sign of the little boy. A few hours later, the Amber Alert calling the missing boy Aaron was corrected to the child’s real name: Lonzie.
Later that day, Ebron was arrested on two child neglect charges. The search for Lonzie continued, at times with people from the community joining the efforts.
On Aug. 18, 2015, Lonna Barton was arrested after police said she gave a false statement. She was later charged with child neglect.
Five months later, on Jan. 11, 2016, Ebron led investigators to Lonzie’s body, lying in a pile of trash on a property near State Road 9B.
Ebron admitted to police that Lonzie drowned in a bathtub while he and Lonna were having sex.
Wanda Ebron, Ruben’s mother, told News4JAX that she met little Lonzie just weeks before his death.
“I just know that the picture I have in my mind is Lonzie walking into my garage with his little blonde hair, blue eyes, cowboy boots on,” Wanda Ebron said. “I thought he was the cutest thing ever.”
Ruben Ebron’s release date is currently set for Sept. 28, 2037, and his mother said she doesn’t think it’s fair his sentence was so much longer than Lonna’s.
“If he was the one who panicked and had to take the child and drop the child off, his sentence might have been a little bit longer, but it should not have been 10 years longer,” Wanda Ebron said.
She said her son never intended to harm Lonzie, but instead made an awful decision to attempt to cover up the accidental death.
As Lonna was released from prison Wednesday, Wanda Ebron said she has no harsh feelings toward Lonzie’s mother.
Lonzie’s father, Chris Barton, was arrested days after the family buried Lonzie. He spent nearly two years in prison on drug charges and was released in March 2018.
At last check, Lonna Barton’s mother had custody of Lonzie’s older sister, who would now be a teenager.