The Horrific Murder of Amora Bain Carson

Trigger Warning: Whether you are reading or listening this week, I want to give a major trigger warning for this story. This is probably one of the darkest, heaviest stories I've covered thus far, so if you aren't in a place where you can handle abuse against women or children please take a break this week, and I will see you on Thursday for my other lighthearted blogs. If you can, reader discretion is advised.

Between December 2nd and December 9th in the Washington DC area in the heart of the Georgetown Waterfront, amongst the high end shopping boutiques and Michelin star restaurants, there was an exhibit: She's Gone. The Woman’s Institute in partnership with the Strongin collection created a display of women dresses hanging in various areas of an empty outdated room. This piece was in protest against gender-based murder, specifically domestic violence in intimate partnerships. Because of COVID-19, assaults against women have been recorded in much larger numbers worldwide. People were home all day, people lost jobs, people were drinking more. The clothing and the display showed Israeli and American murder victims. In Virginia alone there was a major spike in domestic violence homicides during the pandemic, not incidences, not warnings, but homicides.

The Royal College of Nursing defines domestic abuse as a continuum of behavior ranging from verbal abuse, threats and intimidation, manipulative behavior, physical and sexual assault, through rape and homicide. When we think of domestic abuse most images that come to mind are battered women. Usually those abused at the hands of someone much stronger and bigger than them. Often a lack of objective evidence that the abuse has taken place until it's too late, it's less likely to be reported to the police because of the nature of the reality that the police don't seem to be able to really do you much. You wouldn't believe how difficult it is to get a restraining order against someone and besides, what is a piece of paper going to do when there's a gun in your face? Domestic violence is any incident or pattern of incidences of controlling coercive threatening behavior of violence or abuse between those aged 16 or over who are or have intimate partners or family members regardless of gender or sexuality. Unlike stranger abuse or violence, domestic abuse usually takes place in a private area behind closed doors. There is a chance that you have seen or know someone who's been affected by domestic violence or domestic abuse. Most times we may hear a rumor or see something, but we can't be 100% for certain. Maybe there is an incident that we've witnessed that we just thought was a rarity, something out of character, regardless, we let it slide because what can we do?

The story I'm going to tell you today is going to make you think, “well I'm not sure what I can do but I'm willing to figure it out.”

I was inspired to tell this story because I honestly was looking for victims around my age. Any adult, women that looked like me or reminded me of myself. And though it was depressing enough going through recent articles of domestic violence, a lot of them were recent. There was a murder suicide on Christmas Eve in DC, I spent the better half of my holiday season listening to women tell various stories and podcasts of narcissists that they found themselves engulfed with. I didn't want to pick a super popular story because sometimes when the repeated names get told, you start to think that maybe the problem isn't as frequent.

That is not the case.

Child abuse is defined as physical maltreatment or sexual molestation of a child. The national child abuse coalition reports that there are four categories of abuse: physical, sexual, emotional, and neglect. Children under the age of 1 are at the greatest risk of abuse. In 2014, there are more than 700,000 children that were victims of some form of abuse. Five children in America die every day from child abuse and neglect: this is the story of Amora Bain Carson.

East Texas currently has 17 inmates sitting on death row. Their crimes vary from armed robbery resulting in murder, to destruction and disposal of a body from murder. There's even woman on there, I was scrolling through the pages looking at the faces and all their eyes are the same: empty. The death penalty, I know is a complicated topic. Some people are for it, others don't believe that we should essentially decide when someone gets to die, no matter what they did. The anticipation of death row, to know that you are never leaving your cage, and you're one day closer to inevitable death must be terrifying, especially if you’re innocent, which is why a lot of people are against the death penalty. Our system isn't foolproof, there are people that are sitting on death row that are innocent. 31 year old Blaine Keith Millam is not one of those people. In the photo, he is bald, pale, with a round face and full cheeks. He has a prominent nose and dark eyes, in more recent photos he's grown out of his hair a light blondish brown mustache around his thin lips, and a receding hairline that's come earlier than planned no doubt, with light brown hair usually slicked down.

Blaine was born and raised in Tatum, Texas. An incredibly small town located in Rusk County. The town has just under 2000 People, at least in 2010. Although it's highly doubtful that this has even doubled since. One quick look at the Tatum website and you can guess it is a predominantly white city. Have you ever heard of a sundown town? This would pretty much be what you would imagine.

Blaine’s upbringing was, unique. He and his father were extremely close. He'd been home schooled by his dad since the 4th grade. The two would watch cartoons together and Blaine aspired to be a rock star. He could play the drums and had a pretty decent ear for music. Blaine was known to be passive and also had control issues and a pretty short fuse. It isn't clear what his relationship was like with his mom, or if he got the anger from his dad, but Blaine was pretty troubled as he entered young adulthood. Between 2006 to 2007 Blaine had been charged with aggravated sexual assault on a 13 year old girl. Rumors say that she wasn’t his only victim. Blaine had broken into the girl’s home, left pornographic photos on her dresser as well as notes about what the two could do with each other, sexually. Although Blaine never touched the young girl, he was placed on the sex offender registry, and he was ordered to spend 180 days in jail in the beginning of August of 2008. He was let out on a work release 48 days into that sentence, and never went back. Judicial errors by officials allowed Blaine to never be arrested again, and never returned to jail to fulfill his sentence. However one of the probation terms was that he was not to be within 200 feet of where any children would get together, which meant no schools, no parks, and definitely not around any women who had children. Blaine was pretty down on his luck, it wasn't clear whether he was working or how he spent his days, until in January of 2008 Blaine met 18 year old Jessica Carson.

Jessica was your average small-town teenager. She had an average frame with a round face and sandy brown hair and would occasionally wear glasses. Her upbringing was strained. Her father committed suicide when she was 10 and she was the one who discovered his body. Jessica lived with her mom in the small town of Longview. When Jessica was 16 she became pregnant, the boyfriend wasn't in the baby's life he was essentially estranged. For Jessica that didn't matter, she was in love with her beautiful baby girl Amora Bain Carson. With friends and her mother's help Jessica was able to support and raise the 13 month year old. When Jessica turned 18 she came into a bit of money from her father's estate. Jessica wasn't necessarily keen on what she wanted to do with her life yet, but when she met Blaine things just kind of clicked. The two got along and meshed incredibly well and after a couple of months they became engaged. Blaine moved into the apartment and things started off decently, however they began to take a turn as Blaine and Jessica relationship went from codependent to incredibly unhealthy.

Blaine and Jessica bought a Ouija board while living in their Longview apartment. Jessica wanted to communicate with her father who passed away. She claimed that she received answers from her father through the board game. For those of you who are not aware a Ouija board essentially is a way to speak to those in the afterlife. It has the alphabet and a “yes and no” written on a board. You can ask questions and the afterlife uses an object to answer them. You place your hands on the object and it will guide you two letters or the words. Jessica believed that her father was communicating with her through the Ouija board. Now why he wouldn't mention to her that Blaine is crazy as hell I have no idea, but I digress. She and Blaine would spend hours on the board and Jessica began to neglect her responsibilities and as she turned her reality into fantasy, she was losing her sense of motherhood as well. 

Jessica began to believe that Blaine was possessed by the devil. She also believed that the entire apartment was possessed. The two moved from the location of the apartment to Blaine's mother's house. Jessica along with her baby, Blaine, and Blaine's mother had a strained relationship. The apartment was often left a mess. There was food left in the refrigerator and light bulbs full of amphetamines along with a knife in a toilet tank. It was clear that all three people in the home were using. Jessica also began to become more withdrawn. She was known for being outgoing and charismatic, and now she'd stopped caring about her appearance had become withdrawn and was barely communicating with her family. 

Towards the end of 2008 Blaine's father passed away. Blaine’s already temperamental state took a turn for the worse. He began to become irritated and aggressive with Jessica. The two would argue constantly. Blaine had a gun and would threaten to commit suicide, and it even run away with Jessica's car. At one point Jessica and Blaine’s argument had come to a major blow. The two were arguing in the vehicle when Blaine shot a hole in the floorboard. Jessica's friends described the relationship as essentially toxic, it had gone from something that almost seemed to have a decent potential to just seeming volatile and dark. Between Blaine’s move from Longview to Tatum to Longview again he never updated his information with the authorities and they essentially lost track of him. Thus he was able to go undetected with his jail time for the crime he had committed against the young girl a year prior.

Despite family and friends concern, Jessica and Blaine continued their relationship. Jessica believed that Blaine was possessed and began to believe that Amora was possessed too. The couple felt that the only way to rid this demon was to perform an exorcism. They believed that the Ouji Board had something to do with the possession of Blaine and baby Amora. Now as noted before there were drugs found in Blaine’s mother’s apartment. The couple and the mom had moved a couple of times. This could have had something to do with the delusion that Blaine and the baby were possessed. 

On December 2nd 2008 Jessica Carson and Blaine Millam were fueled by amphetamines. They'd been taking drugs all day.

TRIGGER WARNING: Abuse and sexual Assault 

The couple decided it was time to perform an exorcism on baby Amora. Blaine got a hammer and began to beat the little girl, continuously. After they were finished, the two staged the apartment, covering it in fake blood and destroying the home to make it look like someone had broken in. Blaine and Jessica then drove to a pawn shop and sold some tools for money, they said that they wanted to use this money for an exorcism however they ended up going to a gas station and buying cigarettes, and most likely drugs. Baby Amora was left in a hole in the floor of the bathroom and bled to death. At around 10:37 in the morning Blaine called 911. Blaine claimed that someone had killed his daughter.

“My name is Blaine Milam, and my daughter, I just found her dead,” Milam said on the 911 call.

Later, he told law enforcement that Amora was not his daughter but Jesseca’s, his fiance. Blaine said he was “raising that baby,” 

When police arrived they were shocked by the scene, the home looked completely dismantled and there laid the young baby in a hole with blood around her. They claimed that they had left the child unattended in the trailer for a short while to run an errand and that during the time someone must have broken into the home and attacked her. Blaine would later change his story and say that Amora was dead by the time he arrived back to the trailer instead of dying like he had stated. Blaine added that Amora had a blood ring around her mouth and it looked like she'd been biting the insulation in the floor of the bathroom. It isn't clear if the bathroom was destroyed by the couple, or if there was some sort of construction going on within the trailer. 

The officers described the couple as looking grieving. They were embracing each other and crying looking completely distraught. Blaine was pretty inviting, he allowed the officers to search the home and gave the names of possible suspects. As investigators searched the property they found blood spatter, bloody bedding, baby clothes, diapers, and wipes. They found a tube of lubricant and a pair of jeans with bloodstains on the lap. All the items tested positive for Amora’s DNA. The couple had not been arrested yet however Blaine’s aunt eventually came forward to report a conversation that Blaine had had with his sister. She recalls that Blaine had mentioned that they needed to put evidence underneath the home to continue the idea that someone had broken in. It isn't clear if Blaine had confessed what he had done to his sister however the notion that a cover up was needed was clear. The officers crawled under their home and discovered a pipe wrench in a plastic bag. It had been shoved into a hole in the bathroom floor. The pipe would later reveal that there was lubricant on it as well as Amora’s diaper and  wipes were also covered in lubricant as well. 

When processing Jessica's vehicle there was no baby car seat. But there was one found facedown in the driveway. Police quickly ruled out any other suspects. The names that were given it isn't clear whether they were researched, however none were strong enough to be suspects of this murder. There were no witnesses of anyone coming in and out of the trailer aside from Blaine and Jessica. Most importantly there was no other DNA and this is important because the way that Amora was murdered, there would have had to be some sort of DNA. Blaine and Jessica were indicted on capital murder and they each pled not guilty. The trial was set for May 3rd 2010 and it was a high publicity case. People in Longview and Tatum recognized the couple and had never seen anything as horrific or sick as this. The case was moved 160 miles from Henderson in Rusk County to the Houston suburb of Conroe. The two sat in jail and had zero contact for two years and by 2010 the trial began.

TRIGGER WARNING

I want to start with the medical examiner and what he found in Amora’s cause of death. It was a homicidal violence due to blunt force trauma and possible strangulation. However that wasn't the only injury she suffered, it was clear a hammer and a pipe was used but the way that it was used is important. Her injuries included facial abrasions and bruises to the extent that looked like one big injury. There were also 24 human bite marks, bruises, scrapes, and abrasions from head to toe. There was bleeding underneath the scalp and extensive fracture to the back of the skull. There was a laceration to the brain as well as swelling and bleeding around the optic nerves. There was bleeding in the eyes, around the jugular vein, and they we're fractures to the arms and legs. There were 18 rib fractures and a tear to the liver and extensive injury to the genitals. Amora was a 13 month old baby. She was essentially unrecognizable. It is clear that Amora was beaten, tortured, and sexually assaulted. I'm not going to include anymore details. But Please note the pipe that had lubricants, the hammer, and the two adults that were involved. There is no excuse or explanation for what happened that day.

Doctor Keith Pinkard, a forensic pathologist testified that the particular body was shocking. All of the  injuries were caused while she was alive and some of the injuries were possibly hours old. Amora was small, only 23 pounds, during the questioning Rusk County Judge Clay Gossett of the 4th state District Court was presiding over the trial allowed photos to be shown. Jurors were visibly shaken up, one female juror began to cry while another male juror put his head down and covered his eyes. Blaine never looked at the photos. There was possible strangulation as Mr. Pinkard noticed a couple things the abrasions around the neck, and there was tearing to the that was clear a major injury occurred outside of just the human bites.. It is not fully known what was the official cause of death because there were so many factors. But it was clear that this was a homicide.

Mr. Pinkard also testified to a reasonable degree that eight of the bite marks were made by Blaine and excluded Jessica from all but one of the bite marks.. However as we know there were 24 bite marks made that day, and there was no other strange DNA found on Amora. So the bite marks had to be done between Blaine and Jessica. Blaine did not officially confess to the murder until he was in jail. A nurse from the Rusk County jail found Blaine curled up in his cell crying, he had a note written that he wanted to confess. The note also stated that he loved his girlfriend Jessica and was ready to come clean. Both Jessica and Blaine admitted that they were planning on beating whatever demon was inside of Amora, out. To be clear Amora did not do anything out of the ordinary of being a 13 month old baby. Her family and Jessica's friends never noted any misbehavior. There was nothing that showed any evidence of the baby being possessed in any way. Jessica never expressed to friends or family anything odd or demonic from the baby.

Blaine's defense team focused on Jessica as the murderer. Witnesses testified to her change in behavior around the time that she received the settlement, and met Blaine. They described Jessica as bizarre and paranoid and that they were concerned for Amora. A psychiatrist was called and stated that Jessica had psychotic depression. His assessment was based off of reading material not specifically interviewing Jessica himself. The jury deliberated for about 8 hours and came back with a guilty verdict. During the penalty phase prosecutors brought up that Blaine was on probation for aggravated sexual assault, he was also in violation of his terms. And a fellow inmate testified that Blaine had said he planned to escape from jail and threatened to stab him. Other witnesses testified to how Blaine was controlling with Jessica how he was violent and volatile. Blaine's mother testified that her son had emotional immaturity and was using methamphetamines. A toxicologist reported that Blaine had ten times the therapeutic dose of methamphetamines in his system at the time of the crime. He was under a high amount of severe psychosis. Other experts also testified to Blaine being mentally deficient all of this played a role in sentencing. Texas does believe in the death penalty and Blaine was sentenced to death by lethal injection. 

In April of 2011 Jessica's trial began. She was known as a woman who sacrificed her child to a monster. They did not seek the death penalty in her case, but argued that she was a bystander to the crime. They believe that due to the sexual assault and the bite marks the major player in the manner of Amora wasn't Jessica but, Blaine. However, Jessica stood by and allowed this violence to occur, as well as admitting that she believed her daughter was possessed as well. 

The defense team brought up Jessica and Blaine's relationship. It wasn't normal Blaine was incredibly controlling and abusive in their relationship there were several occasions where the police were called because of domestic violence. With a mix of drugs and delusion the exorcism the defense claimed was more so bBaine's idea.  Jessica admitted later “she was present when (Milam) performed an exorcism of the demons possessing the body of the child.”

He was fulfilling some sort of sick fantasy. The defense claimed that Jessica was controlled by Blaine, that she was afraid that he was abusive and that he had her completely under his thumb. She lived in his home, he supplied drugs for the couple, and he was violent to himself and her should she ever try to leave. However, the prosecution stated that if Jessica really believed there were demons in her baby why wouldn't she go to the church or a doctor? Why would she rely on her boyfriend who was a drug addict, sex offender and had a 4th grade education? It didn't take long for the jury to deliberate and find Jessica guilty and she was sentenced to life without parole.

Neither Jessica nor Blaine testified during their trials.

In May of 2012 the Texas court of criminal appeals upheld the death sentence for Blaine Milam. His defense team tried to say that there were about 20 errors during the trial however the court's appeals did not agree.

 Blaine's time on death row has been, ******. He was the youngest inmate on death row at the time of his conviction. He has access to the radio and newspapers but does not have a television. He's been interviewed a couple of times and has in put in a punishment pod a few times as well he was busted for drinking some sort of alcoholic liquid made in a toilet. When Blaine’s mother was interviewed she talked about how she was afraid for him to die. She believes that he is innocent despite video evidence showing Blaine and Jessica going to a pawn shop and obviously the physical evidence on Amora’s body. That day in question despite doing a lot of meth Blaine was the one to call 911, he was calm. He ends up handing Jessica the phone and she's crying to the 911 operator. Blaine says he was following Jessica's lead, that she was the one to say that Amora was possessed and so he was doing what he thought was the right thing to do. Jessica was also interviewed and explain that she and Blaine bonded especially after Blaine's father passed away. Jessica believed that the devil was inside of her, inside of Blaine, and inside of Amora. Both Blaine and Jessica blame the other person for Amora’s death.

Blaine’s defense attorney Steven Jackson said that he spent about four months total with Blaine Milam. He said it was the longest case of his career. Blaine was essentially a child. While the jury was out deciding if Blaine would get the death penalty they were watching Scooby-Doo cartoons and when they knocked on the door to announce the verdict Blaine wanted to finish the cartoon, he had no clear sense of the seriousness of his actions. 

Stephen recalled Blaine leaning over to him and whispering  "Why do these people not like me, why do they wanna kill me?"

 In 2019 Blaine and his defense attorney tried to overturn the death penalty, his attorneys claim that he was not eligible for execution because he is intellectually disabled. As of now Blaine continues to sit on death row. Jessica is serving life in prison.

 Was this an act of drug fueled evil violence? Is Blaine really just a mentally impaired person who didn't understand the severity of his actions? It is pretty clear that day that both Jessica and Blaine knew enough to stage the murder, and leave the home to score cigarettes and drugs. To use a disability as a reason to commit murder is an insult to those who are disabled. The couple new enough  to take drugs, to use a board game continuously, to cover a crime, they were able to drive, and Blaine had even been violent in the past. The responsibility should weigh on both Jessica and Blaine for the rest of their lives.

Amora Bain Carson was born on November 12th 2007. She had soft chubby cheeks and beautiful Big blue eyes. She was known to be a happy baby, she didn't deserve what happened to her no one does especially not a 13 month year old baby who's just learning how to live. She is missed by her grandparents, aunts uncles cousins. And her story though gruesome dark and cold deserves to be told as a reminder of the immeasurable ugliness that can be in this world. There are people that noted Amora was not in the safest of situations and the question is how could this have been prevented? Who could have protected Amora, the first person being her mother, who ended up being the most dangerous of them all.

sources:

https://nationalchildabusecoalition.org/what-is-child-abuse

https://medium.com/crimeatorium/death-row-series-amora-bain-carson-8896e44a0ef7

https://knue.com/the-17-east-texans-who-are-currently-sitting-on-death-row/

https://tylerpaper.com/news/local/man-on-death-row-for-2008-murder-of-child-in-rusk-county-granted-stay-of/article_4e97b6f6-1fea-5b30-b500-4d3e47e5d796.html

https://www.chron.com/news/houston-texas/article/Conroe-jury-hears-horrific-details-of-injuries-to-1696955.php

https://www.texastribune.org/2019/01/14/texas-court-criminal-appeals-stays-execution-blaine-milam/

http://www.angelizdsplace.com/child122.htm

https://theeagle.com/news/state-and-regional/doctor-toddlers-injuries-shocking/article_35a684c4-304c-5545-be62-dbd4594c7dd0.html

https://abuseangels.wixsite.com/abuseangels/amora-carson

https://www.ktre.com/story/10741625/judge-changes-venue-on-exorcism-case/

https://tatum.texas.gov