A Mother Was Tortured for Not Doing Chores—Until Her Child Found the Courage to Fight Back
Jeremiah Amamira Alexander was born on October 12th, 2011 in Bakersfield, California to her mother, Amber Fischer, and her father, Germaine Alexander. She was known to her family and friends as Maya. Jeremiah was described by her cousin Demand as smart, supportive, hard-working, and very understanding, and she was particularly close with her cousin Allayia, who referred to the little girl as my baby.
She was a keen student, earning the outstanding achievement award. According to her teacher, Ms. Kennedy, Jeremiah performed good work in all academic areas, even though she’d occasionally get in trouble for talking too much in class. Jeremiah had big brown eyes and dark hair that was often styled in braids fastened with colorful clips.
As she got older, she wore a pair of purple eyeglasses. She was a spiritual little girl who was full of life, loved to go to church, and never forgot her prayers. She loved her little brothers and was a good big sister who always kept the peace. Pictures offer just a small glimpse into the life of the little girl in happier times.
In one, she cradles a green sippy cup in her arm while wearing a pair of teal Dora the Explorer footie pajamas. In another, she smiles at the camera with her daddy while wearing a purple princess crown. In yet another, she carries a handful of birthday balloons and a card full of cash. There are countless pictures of Jeremiah and Allayia posing for the camera.
In each and every one of the pictures, it captures the image of a happy, healthy little girl, one who was clearly adored. At the time of our story, Jeremiah was just 8 years old. At 5:54 a.m. on March 18th, 2020, 33-year-old Amber returned home from her overnight shift as a caregiver to discover Jeremiah unresponsive and not breathing.
She had left her daughter in the care of her boyfriend, 37-year-old Clint Damon Mason. The couple had been together for 5 years, and Clinton was also the father of her youngest son. They had what was described as a volatile relationship that included police involvement, though neither party had filed any charges for family violence.
Amber promptly called 911 and emergency services were dispatched to apartment number five located at 2711 Sand Dema Street in Bakersfield. According to first responders, Jeremiah was covered head to toe in bruises and other signs of trauma. She was rushed to nearby Dignity Health Memorial Hospital where doctors attempted life-saving measures, but unfortunately it was too late.
Jeremiah Alexander was pronounced dead later that same day. Her extended family weren’t even allowed to say goodbye to her in the hospital. We can assume due to pandemic related restrictions, which will become a common theme in the story. At autopsy, it was discovered that Jeremiah died as a result of a number of issues. These included hypoxic respiratory failure, which was brought on by a combination of both acute bronneumonia and cickle cell trait.
For those unfamiliar, people with cickle cell trait inherit one cickle cell gene and one normal gene. The majority of people with this trait do not have any of the symptoms of cickle cell disease. But in rare cases, some people with cickle cell trait can be potentially affected by increased pressure in the atmosphere, low oxygen levels in the air, dehydration, and high altitudes.
Complications from cickle cell trait are rare, but when they occur, they tend to reflect common complications from cickle cell disease, such as eye problems, blood in the urine, and spleenic infar, which is a condition that causes the spleen tissue to die off. There’s no information to suggest that Jeremiah had any sort of complication from cickle cell trait.
However, Jeremiah’s cause of death wasn’t all that simple. She also died from multiple blunt force trauma. So, that raised some questions about the other causes. We reached out to a clinical pharmacist who treats patients who are inatient status to get a better understanding of the medical examiner’s findings.
He advised us that the cause of death tends to be multifaceted and all of this could have been due to trauma rather than a pre-existing illness. Jeremiah’s pneumonia could have been caused by blunt force trauma to the chest. When energy is transferred to the lungs, it can cause pulmonary contusions to the structure airways of the lungs or bronus.
This can quickly lead to an inflammatory response. Pneumonia is essentially the filling of the alvoli with fluid. Now, the cause of the pneumonia could be indistinguishable on imaging and even potentially physical inspection. In the end, Jeremiah’s manner of death was ruled a homicide. But how did this happen? And where was Clint during all of this? Well, when Amber arrived home and discovered Jeremiah unresponsive, her boyfriend fled on foot.
A be on the lookout order was issued which described Clint as a black male standing at 6’2 in tall and weighing 235 lbs. He was last seen wearing a black hoodie and walked with a slight limp. Police noted that he could be heading south to Los Angeles where he was originally from and had family. Prior to fleeing the scene, Clint had kept a fairly clean nose.
All things considered, he had some minor charges dating back to 2001, which included possession with intent to sell, among others. Welcome back. 17 Crime [music] Watch tonight. The search is over this hour as police have arrested a man accused of killing his girlfriend’s daughter early Wednesday morning in Bakersfield.
Clint Mason was arrested near Los Angeles this morning. Officers brought him back to Bakersfield where he’s facing a murder charge. Bakersfield police say officers found Mason at a Motel 6 in Englewood this morning. They say they took him into custody without incident. The victim has been identified as 8-year-old Jeremiah Alexander.
On Wednesday morning, officers found Jeremiah not breathing at an apartment complex on Sand Dema Street. First responders later pronounced her dead after rushing her to a local hospital. Family members tell us Mason is the boyfriend of the girl’s mother. >> The authorities hunch that Clint would head home was correct.
Following day, he was taken into custody without incident at a Motel 6 in Englewood. He was then extradited back to Bakersfield where he was held without bail at the Laro pre-trial detention center. there. He faced three felony counts, including first-degree murder, torture, and willful cruelty to a child. He’s arraigned on March 22nd and faced a possible life sentence.
But what happened here? Thankfully for investigators, Ammer had video cameras all over the couple’s apartment. Allegedly, she originally installed the cameras to monitor one of her sons who had a skin condition. She wanted to be able to see if he was itching himself behind her back. Amber turned over the cameras to the police, and the footage contained on the devices was shocking.
At 9:30 p.m. on March 17th, the camera captured a harrowing scene that included Jeremiah bent over a stool. Some sources have described this as an ottoman with Clint looming over her wielding a metal rod. While the girl screamed, cried, and begged for him to stop, Clint brought the rod down over her backside over and over again in what news outlets described as a two-handed overhead swing.
The 37year-old could be heard telling the little girl, “I don’t give a [ __ ] This is what you wanted, and this is not going to end well for you. Trust me when I tell you that.” As the little girl continued to yell no and writhe in pain, he shouted, “Want me to put my leg in your neck?” At one point, Clint realized his mistake.
Not that he was beating a helpless little girl within an inch of her life with both a metal rod and later his hands and a belt, but he’d been caught on camera doing so. To attempt to remedy this, he pointed the camera away from him. However, Clint was too stupid to realize that the camera was one of those motion activated ones on a swivel.
So, even though he pointed it away from himself, it went right back to filming him once the beating ensued. >> According to Clint, Jeremiah was unable to get up and walk, so he had to carry her upstairs to her bedroom. She complained that she felt sick and was having trouble breathing, but Clint couldn’t be bothered to get her medical attention, at least not in the state he left her in.
Around 5:00 am the following morning, Clint leaned in to check on her and found her unresponsive. It was then that he called Amber at work in tears, telling her that there was something wrong with Jeremiah and that she needed to come home. He said, “You need to come home. Something wrong with Maya. I don’t think she’s breathing.
Something wrong with her.” He later told police that he beat the little girl as a means to motivate her to do household chores and homework. We are back now and in tonight 17 [music] court watch. The Bakersfield man accused of killing his girlfriend’s daughter had his first hearing this afternoon.
37year-old Clint Mason appeared during a teleconferenced hearing in Superior Court. Mason is accused of killing 8-year-old Jeremiah Alexander at a home on Sand Sand Dema Street in central Bakersfield on March 18th. Investigators say Mason beat the girl for hours after she allegedly didn’t do her homework. The report says Mason left her quote covered from head to toe with wounds unquote.
His arraignment has been continued to next week. Charges against him include torture and murder. >> Jeremiah’s story went cold for almost 2 years. Due to pandemic related restrictions, cases move slowly through the court system. Due to this, district attorneys were and still are cutting deals left and right due to the backlog.
Some see this as a blessing as it spares the family the agony of having to be revictimized at trial. Others see this as a copout at the hands of the justice system where the accused doesn’t have to be held fully responsible for their actions. On February 22nd, 2022, Clint Damon Mason, now 39 years old, pled no contest to first-degree murder.
In exchange for his plea, the two other charges: torture and willful cruelty to a child were dropped. On March 22nd, 2022, just one month later, he was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. Now, according to his listing with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, Clint will be eligible for a parole suitability hearing in January of 2032.
He’s currently serving his sentence at the California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility in State Prison at Corkerin. Jeremiah’s cousin, Dean Coleman, started a GoFundMe campaign on her behalf. in it. He said, “On March 18th, 2020, the family of 8-year-old Jeremiah’s lives were changed forever.
Jeremiah was tragically killed early morning Wednesday. At this time, the family is facing a difficult time and are asking for support at this time of grief. Jeremiah was such a beautiful, smart, sweet little girl. She had the brightest smile, supportive, hardworking, and very understanding. She always made those around her smile.
At such a young age and so full of life, she made a difference in everyone and cared deeply about the people she crossed. She was always a big help to her little brothers who will miss her dearly. She always wanted peace and never no negativity. Maya was also such a spiritual little girl, always wanted to pray to God. It is so devastating for the family to be going through this.
With sweet regards, the family at this time appreciate all the support and help in advance. Please continue to keep the family in your prayers. As of the date of this recording in December of 2024, the fundraiser managed to collect $4,069. We’d also like to give a huge shout out to Lane from Suffer the Little Children for her coverage of Jeremiah’s case.
As I’m sure you’re already aware, we have a shared audience and get a lot of overlapping case requests. She along with Casey Renee and the AFC podcast were the first to cover Jeremiah’s story. Actual news coverage of Jeremiah’s story was sparse at best, which is the case for a lot of the children that lost their lives at the hands of their caretakers during the pandemic.
This is why it’s so important to keep these stories alive. It’s easy to forget about injustices if no one is talking about them, and right now, barely anyone is. We’re going to link all of their episodes in our description for you to check out, which includes an interview Lane conducted with Jeremiah’s aunt.
As a closing note, one positive thing we can take away from Jeremiah’s story is the fact that Clint was apprehended so quickly because a concerned citizen saw the bolo and did exactly what we’ve been preaching for years now. They saw something, so they said something. Clint only made it 116 miles before he was taken into custody. Again, you do not need to be a teacher, a medical professional, law enforcement, or any other mandated reporter to do the right thing.
When it comes to the health and safety of those most vulnerable, we all have a responsibility to act. Due to pandemic restrictions, Jeremiah’s family was only allowed to hold a small private gathering to honor their little girl. But for a small ceremony, it was still pretty fantastic. Jeremiah was laid to rest in a fluffy white casket with a flower pattern which was transported in a motorcycle drawn carriage.
Her final resting place is the Union Cemetery in Bakersfield, California. She was buried next to her first cousin once removed Christy Allen who passed away just a month prior due to an illness. Jeremiah lays beneath a simple granite headstone decorated with etchings of a crown and a unicorn, as well as a picture of the smiling 8-year-old in happier times.
Beneath her birth and death dates reads, “Your wings were ready, but our hearts were not.
