William “Ruben” Ebron called the police on July 24, 2015, with a terrifying story. He said someone stole his car with his girlfriend’s 21-month-old son inside. Lonna Lauramore Barton went along with the story, and a large-scale search began for her young son, Lonzie Barton. But police began to doubt the validity of Ebron’s story soon after the 911 call. He later told police Lonzie drowned in the bathtub while he and Barton were having sex. A Florida court convicted both adults in 2016, but Barton recently completed her sentence and is free once again. A lot has happened since Barton and Ebron went to jail, but sadly, little Lonzie missed out on all of it because of the negligence of trusted adults.
WTLV reported that in early 2016, Ebron led investigators to Lonzie’s body as part of a plea deal. Police found the little boy’s body in a stack of tires in the Bayard area of Jacksonville, Florida. A judge sentenced Ebron to 20 years after he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect, lying to police, and tampering with evidence. He remains in the Okeechobee Correctional Institution.
Barton, now 35, was recently released from prison after completing her sentence. She spent time in jail for both child neglect and drug charges. News4Jax reported Barton walked out of the Baker County Detention Facility on November 26, 2025. Ebron’s mother, Wanda Ebron, told the outlet she harbors no ill feelings toward Barton following her release. Her son will remain in prison until 2037, but that doesn’t seem fair to her. She believes both Ebron and Barton made a huge mistake the night Lonzie died.
“If he was the one who panicked and had to take the child and drop the child off, his sentence might have been a little bit longer, but it should not have been 10 years longer,” Wanda Ebron said, per the outlet.
She said her son never meant to hurt Lonzie but made a horrific mistake. She distinctly remembers the first time she met the little boy shortly before his death.
“I just know that the picture I have in my mind is Lonzie walking into my garage with his little blonde hair, blue eyes, cowboy boots on,” Wanda Ebron said. “I thought he was the cutest thing ever.”
Hopefully, the time Barton spent in jail rehabilitated her, and she can move on to lead a better life without drugs.
