Bond was denied for the foster care mother charged with the murder of toddler twins Raelynn and Payton Keyes.
Claudette Foster appeared in Liberty County Superior Court Monday where Judge Glen A. Cheney denied her bond request. Foster’s attorney Mitchell Dameon was advised to prepare a bond order for presentment at another hearing to be held at 9 a.m. Dec. 4.
Foster is charged with two counts of second degree murder and two counts of cruelty to children. Because Foster is a native of Jamaica she is considered a flight risk and was denied bond.
On Sept. 29, between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. the twins died after crawling into a disabled vehicle parked at the home of Sam Edwards at 202 Augusta Way. Edwards is Foster’s boyfriend.
According to the arrest warrants, Foster is alleged to have caused cruel and excessive mental and physical pain to the twins when she left the children unattended for approximately three hours while she took a nap. Documents state the children entered the disabled vehicle which led to their death by heat stroke.
According to Hinesville police detective Bryan Wolfe, Foster is charged because it was her alleged neglect that led to the circumstances of their death.
“In this case, during the investigation it was determined that there was a lack of supervision for the children which allowed them to enter into the vehicle and then eventually pass due to heat stroke,” Wolfe said.
Other news outlets reported that the Department of Family and Children Services had told Foster not to leave the children with Edwards and to not spend the night at Edwards’ house.
The twins and their brothers were removed from the home of the biological parents and had been in foster cares since May 2018.
Foster had been previously booked for DUI on Aug. 4. According to court records, she was cited for the DUI drugs and for failure to maintain lane and taken to Liberty jail. She later bonded out for $1,800.
A Georgia State Patrol incident report said Liberty County Sheriff Deputy Capt. Lonnie Bowman initiated a traffic stop on Foster around 12:30 a.m. after she failed to maintain her lane. Bowman said Foster stopped her Nissan in the middle of Highway 38.
GSP Trooper K. McCray was called to the scene to help Bowman and in his report said Foster was unsteady on her feet and had slurred speech. McCray also wrote there was an odor of an alcoholic beverage coming from Foster.
Foster said she had only one drink, a stout, approximately three and a half hours earlier. When questioned further, Foster said she had drank some Benadryl earlier that night, admitting it may have been more than the typical dose. Foster also told the trooper she was sleepy, she said, according to the GSP report. According to public records she waived formal arraignment and pleaded not guilty through her attorney on file, Kimberly Copeland. Copeland requested trial by jury for Oct. 7. However, the incident that led to the toddlers’ death, Sept. 29, occurred before this case went to court and Foster remains in jail.