When D.C. police knocked on the door of a Southern Avenue apartment on January 18, they weren’t prepared for what was on the other side. Inside a cluttered, filthy room, two 13-month-old babies had been left completely alone — and one of them had already begun to decompose.
Valencia Duke, 25, allegedly abandoned her twin toddlers, Mazouri Jones and her brother, for nearly four full days. Police say Duke spent a total of just two hours with the children over the course of 92 hours — leaving two infants who couldn’t walk, couldn’t speak, and couldn’t feed themselves entirely on their own.
When officers arrived following a report of an unconscious child, they found the twins inside a playpen surrounded by filthy laundry, rotting food — and crack cocaine.
Little Mazouri was already gone. She was pronounced dead at the scene. Her cause of death, ruled on April 3 by D.C.’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, was “dehydration and malnourishment due to neglect” — officially classified as a homicide.
Her twin brother was alive, but barely. Paramedics found the boy so desperately starved that he tried to eat a stethoscope, mistaking it for food. He had severe hypothermia, and his ribs were visibly protruding through his skin. He was rushed to a nearby hospital in critical condition.
“Dehydration and malnourishment due to neglect” — Office of the Chief Medical Examiner, Washington D.C.
Duke now faces first-degree felony murder in Mazouri’s death, along with two counts of cruelty to children. She was arrested Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday.
In a detail that left the courtroom stunned — Duke’s attorney revealed she is currently 13 weeks pregnant. A preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 11.
What This Means: This case has sent shockwaves through Washington D.C., reigniting urgent conversations about child welfare checks and how infants in neglectful homes slip through the cracks. Child protection advocates are already calling for answers about how this went undetected for four days.
Mazouri Jones was 13 months old. She never had a chance. Her brother survived — but the images first responders described that night are ones no one on that scene will ever forget.
