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 Police: 5-year-old found dead in attack that severely injured mother A 5-year-old Jackson County boy was found dead in a heavily wooded area near where his mother was discovered after being thrown from a cliff. A 5-year-old Jackson County boy was found dead in a heavily wooded area near where his mother was discovered after being thrown from a cliff. cstroh@herald-leader.com 
 
 A 5-year-old Jackson County boy was found dead in a heavily wooded area near where his mother was discovered after being thrown from a cliff. cstroh@herald-leader.com 

 JACKSON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)-- The Kentucky State Police Commissioner, Richard Sanders, announced Monday that the 5-year-old crews were searching for since Saturday was found dead. 
 
 Dozens of emergency workers, some mounted on horses, spent Sunday looking for five-year-old James Spoonamore. 
 
 Family tells LEX 18 there was a bizarre situation that led up to Spoonamore's disappearance. Police say a confrontation over money led to a family friend assaulting the boy's mother, Jessica Durham. 
 
 "She got hit in the head two or three times her hands got tied behind her back...she got blind folded and then she was put into a vehicle and she could hear James going, 'mommy, you're bleeding,'" The boy's aunt said. 
 
 She went on to say that when the man driving the vehicle finally stopped, the mother's blindfold was taken off, and her hands were untied. 
 
 "She was trying to fight back to get away from him and he shoved her and when he shoved her she went down a hundred foot drop off," she said. 
 
 Investigators are not releasing a lot of information at this point, however, the family tells LEX 18 the boy's mother is in the hospital recovering from serious injuries. We're told the last time she saw James, he was in the woods and she didn't know where he went. 
 
 His body was found a little more than half a mile from where his injured mother was found. 
 
 Police have confirmed that Lonnie Belt, 40, of McKee, is the suspect in the kidnapping of James and his mother. He is being charged with first-degree assault, kidnapping (minor), kidnapping (adult), and tampering with physical evidence. Police say he painted over the walls to hide Jessica Durham's blood from the assault. 
 
 Belt has also been charged with murder in Spoonamore's death. 
 
 He was arrested Friday night and is currently being held on a $100,000 bond. 

 Lonnie Belt (Photo: Jackson County Detention Center, Custom) 
 
 LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WHAS11) – A man has been taken into custody and is facing murder charges in Jackson County after a kidnapping led to a young boy’s death and his mother pushed off an 80-foot cliff in eastern Kentucky. 
 
 Kentucky State Police say they assisted the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office after an injured 41-year-old Jessica Durham was found by hikers on Sparks Ridge Road September 9. 
 
 Durham told authorities that she and her son, 5-year-old James Spoonamore, were kidnapped and assaulted by 41-year-old Lonnie Belt. 
 
 Faced with serious but non-life threatening injuries, Durham was able to tell authorities that she last saw her son as Belt allegedly forced her over the cliff. She was later transported to University of Kentucky Medical Center in Lexington. 
 
 Police began the frantic search for little James with help from volunteers, helicopters, the National Guard, riders on horseback and K-9 units. The search continued throughout the weekend until James’ body was found early Monday morning in the area of Sparks Ridge and Turkey Foot Roads. His body was taken to the Medical Examiner’s Office in Frankfort. No immediate cause of death was given. 
 
 Belt was located and taken in for questioning and later arrested. 
 
 He’s charged with murder, assault, kidnapping-adult, kidnapping-minor and tampering with physical evidence. 
 
 The investigation is ongoing. 
 
 © 2017 WHAS-TV
– Jessica Durham saw two faces, including that of her 5-year-old son. Then she was pushed off an 80-foot cliff. She would remarkably survive, but her son wasn't so lucky. Police and family say the 41-year-old Kentucky woman was beaten, then kidnapped along with her son on Friday in response to a money dispute, per WLEX. Her sister says a family friend arrived at Durham's home, repeatedly struck her in the head in an attempt to knock her out, then forced Durham into a car with her son, per the Lexington Herald-Leader. The man drove until he reached an 80-foot cliff in Jackson County and pushed Durham over the edge, the state police commissioner says. That was the last time Durham—discovered by hikers the next day—saw her son alive, per WHAS. Though her alleged assailant was located hours after Durham was found with a broken ankle, shattered pelvis, internal bleeding, and a head injury, 5-year-old James Spoonamore seemed to have disappeared. In what police are now calling a "tragic" turn, however, James' body was found Monday in a national forest, a little over half a mile from the spot where Durham was discovered Saturday. "It's horrible anytime you have a death. But when you have the death of a young child, it hurts even more," says the commissioner. An autopsy is scheduled. Meanwhile, Lonnie Belt, said to be 40 or 41, has been charged with murder, kidnapping, assault, and evidence tampering after police say he painted walls to hide Durham's blood. He's held on a $100,000 bond.