By Associated Press
Chattanooga TN – An Irondale detective says a couple sentenced to 20 years in prison for aggravated child abuse in Chattanooga are also subjects of a child death investigation in Alabama.
Special Judge Jon Blackwood Monday sentenced former elementary school teacher Derrel Nunn and his wife, Jamila, each to 20 years in prison for disabling injuries to their then-9-month-old son, Derrel "D.J." Junior, in 2002.
While the Dunns contend they never abused their son, records show the child on separate occasions suffered a retinal hemorrhage, abdominal injuries, a fractured arm bone and a shin fracture.
After a grand jury returned an indictment in January 2003, the couple moved to Alabama. Records show another infant son, one-month-old Jalen Nunn, died in 2003 when his father dropped him in a fall down some stairs and landed on top of him.
Irondale police Detective Larry Fowler said today that an investigation into that child's death "has been reopened."