Mother speaks out after grandparents charged in death of 5-year-old girl: 'I look at him as a monster'

PARK FOREST, Ill. - The mother of a five-year-old girl who was allegedly beaten to death by her grandparents is speaking out.

Kimberly Elwoods currently lives in Georgia and said she was going through a rough time earlier this year and was looking for a permanent home and job.

Her father visited her in Georgia and agreed to keep her daughter, Jada Moore, for a couple of months.

Just a few days ago, Kimberly received a call that she never thought she'd ever receive: her father was accused of killing her young daughter.

Now, Kimberly is in Chicago and had to go to the medical examiner's office to identify her young daughter.

"I am all out of tears. I look at him as a monster. I don't even want to carry his last name no more," said Kimberly.

Klent Elwoods and his wife, Lisa Jones, are both charged with murdering Moore last Friday.

Elwoods allegedly called 911 and asked for an ambulance, telling the 911 dispatcher, "I was beating my little granddaughter, and now she is out of it."

It happened inside the couple's home along Osage Street in Park Forest.

When police arrived, Moore was lying on the couch naked.

She was transported to Comer's Children's Hospital, where she died.

"My daughter was smiling and she was happy," said Kimmy. "At no time did she say, ‘Mama I’m scared, mama come get me, he's hitting me, they're beating me,' nothing like that," said Kimmy.

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Officers executed a search warrant on Elwoods and Jones' house and located a belt, a pair of children's shorts with underwear inside (both were soiled) and a notarized letter from the girl's mother giving them custody for school and medical decisions.

The letter was dated April 5, 2023.

Officers also recovered a calendar from the refrigerator that still had June 2023 displayed. It detailed four separate dates in which the victim allegedly soiled herself.

Jones allegedly provided a detailed statement to police saying that both of them had been beating Moore as early as one month after she came to live with them.

She said that both she and Elwoods would use a belt, shoe and their hands to strike Moore.

According to preliminary information from an autopsy conducted on Sunday, the medical examiner notated bruises, abrasions and scars all over the victim’s body including her head, face, neck, arms, legs, chest, back and buttocks.

The bruises, abrasions and scars were consistent with a pattern of ongoing behavior as the wounds were in various stages of healing, prosecutors said.

The medical examiner also noted that there were more wounds to the back of the body than the front. Moore's death was ruled a homicide.

The grandparents are still in custody and are being held without bond. They are due back in court next month.

Kimberly has set up a Go Fund Me account and hoping to raise money to bring Moore's body back to Georgia. 

There is also a vigil scheduled outside the couple's Park Forest home Thursday.