TAVARES, Fla.—A young boy is clinging to life in an Orlando hospital with signs of severe abuse, his mother is being held in jail on no bond, and police are searching for a man who disappeared from the hospital while the boy was being treated Saturday night, Tavares Police Department said Sunday.
Shortly before 9:30 p.m., Kimberley Leonie Mills, 37, and man later identified as Andre Dwayne Walker, 36, arrived at AdventHealth Waterman in Tavares with a 10-year-old boy who was suffering from a critical health event, and had numerous burns and bruising in various stages of healing, in addition to other signs of abuse, according to Mills’ arrest affidavit.
When Mills, a registered nurse, realized law enforcement had been contacted, she left the hospital with Walker and the boy was left unattended with hospital staff. Mills soon returned with another child but without Walker. Road patrol officers, who arrived on scene around 10 p.m., advised her of her rights, and she refused to tell them how the boy “sustained such severe injuries,” the affidavit states, and she later refused to speak with a detective.
A TPD detective spoke with a nurse who said Walker came into the emergency room and said, “We need help, hurry up,” and as the nurse and another employee exited the ER, they saw Mills performing CPR on the boy. The nurse took over care and immediately noticed bruising and she asked Mills what happened to the child; Mills’ response is redacted from the affidavit.
The nurse rushed the boy into the ER and staff took over to begin life-saving measures, working on him for more than 30 minutes to stabilize him. After he was stabilized, the boy was airlifted to Arnold Palmer Children’s Hospital in Orlando, where he is undergoing lifesaving surgeries and remains in critical condition.
The Department of Children and Families (DCF) responded to the hospital and interviewed Mills privately; some details of that interview are redacted from the arrest affidavit, but she did identify Walker as the man who was with her when they arrived at the hospital. Following the interview Mills was arrested for aggravated domestic child abuse and transported to the Lake County Jail, where she is being held on no bond. The other child with Mills had with her when she returned to the hospital, was turned over to DCF’s custody. Tavares Police Department executed a search warrant on Mills’ home where they obtained information confirming Walker’s identity and “pertinent pieces of evidence,” TPD Public Information Officer Courtney Sullivan said in a press release. Walker’s relationship to the boy has not been released.
Walker, of Palm Bay, is wanted for accessory after the fact- aggravated child abuse, and more charges may be forthcoming, Sullivan told Inside Lake. He is described as a black male, 5 feet,6 inches tall, with a slender build. He has a dark moustache and a gray beard. He may be driving a silver 2022 Toyota Tacoma SR5, license plate, EQUU98. Police are asking anyone with information to call them at 352-343-2101 or Crimeline at 1-800-423-TIPS.
This is the second child to suffer severe abuse in Lake County in less than a year. In June 2024, Inside Lake first reported 9-year-old Jamaria Sessions was found dead in her Montverde home. Her father, Lojuan Sessions, and his girlfriend, Tyshael Martin, were later arrested and are each facing charges in her death and are awaiting trial.
