North Charleston Mom Janette Clayton, 27, Now Faces a Homicide by Child Abuse Charge After Her 11-Month-Old Daughter Nomai Weathers Died Weighing 4 Pounds, 13 Ounces

The South Carolina Law Enforcement Division, known as SLED, announced Friday that Janette Clayton, 27, of North Charleston, has been charged with homicide by child abuse in the death of her 11-month-old daughter, Nomai Weathers, according to Live 5 News. The charge adds to three counts of unlawful conduct toward a child filed against her in June. Charges are allegations, and Clayton is presumed innocent unless she is convicted.

Nomai weighed 4 pounds, 13 ounces when she died. Clayton was first arrested in June.

The New Charge Against Janette Clayton

SLED is now leading the investigation, Live 5 reported. Clayton was already being held at the Sheriff Al Cannon Detention Center in Charleston County on the earlier North Charleston Police Department charges when SLED added the new one, WCIV (ABC News 4) reported.

According to the affidavit described by WCIV, the alleged abuse ran from July 2025 until June 17, 2026, the day Nomai was found dead. The affidavit says Nomai was born prematurely and had sickle cell disease, which required medically necessary appointments, and that Clayton did not take her to them.

No bond amount, court date or plea has been published in the coverage of the new charge.

What the Coroner Found About Nomai’s Death

Charleston County Coroner Bobbi Jo O’Neal released the autopsy findings in early August. Nomai died of starvation with acute bronchopneumonia due to neglect, and the manner of death was ruled a homicide, according to Live 5 News. A coroner’s ruling describes how a person died. It is not a verdict on who is responsible.

The coroner said Nomai weighed only 4.8 pounds when she died, a figure consistent with the 4 pounds, 13 ounces in the later charging documents. O’Neal called the weight a “devastating fact.”

O’Neal called the death “a preventable loss of life” and said no child should ever experience such circumstances, Live 5 reported. In a separate statement carried by WCIV, she urged people to recognize and report signs that a child may be in danger and said her office would conduct an impartial investigation.

What Police Reported at the Apartment in June

North Charleston police arrested Clayton on June 17, the day Nomai was found in the family’s apartment on Eleanor Drive. Firefighters attempted lifesaving measures, and the child was pronounced dead at the scene, according to KMVT, which carried the original WCSC report.

Live 5’s August timeline puts the discovery at about 1:30 p.m. on June 17. Clayton was outside with the baby’s paternal grandmother and two other children when officers arrived, KMVT reported, and she was taken to the Al Cannon Detention Center that day.

Police said at the time that a protective sweep of the apartment found no food or child care supplies for the infant. Officers who had previously responded to the home were placed on leave as part of the investigation.

The Police Response Now Under Scrutiny

The case has also put the department’s earlier contacts with the family under review. Live 5’s August report said an officer, Seth Worrell, 31, visited the home on May 27 after a call about a malnourished child, and again on June 15 on a similar call.

Records cited in that report said the child’s father had asked for a welfare check and asked that the Department of Social Services be notified, saying Clayton was not feeding the baby or taking her to a doctor. Body camera footage showed the officer saw a visibly thin child, according to the incident report, but he did not search the home or take protective action. Worrell told a senior officer about the visit, and the documents state that she did not try to see the child. Both officers failed to report the June 15 welfare check, the report said.

Worrell was fired and charged with misconduct in office and failure to report child abuse. According to WOWT, one of the two responding officers was later fired and charged, and the other was reinstated. Lt. Anthony King of the North Charleston Police Department said at the time that both officers had been placed on administrative leave.

Those charges are allegations as well. Neither Clayton’s attorney nor the Ninth Circuit Solicitor’s Office has been quoted in the coverage, and no trial date has been reported.

The coroner’s office said in August that its investigation was continuing. SLED’s decision to take over the case, with the added charge, is the most recent step reported, and the findings released so far come from the coroner, the affidavit and police reports rather than from a courtroom.

The reporting shows a series of warnings in the weeks before Nomai died: two welfare-check visits, a father’s request for help, and a call about a malnourished child. How those calls were handled is now part of the criminal case against a former officer.

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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.

Image: Ed-x-Ward-wiki – CC BY-SA 4.0/Wikimedia Commons