State investigators have determined that an Edgefield County boy died from child abuse at the hands of his mother in 2020.
Codi Raye Scott (Carter), 27, of West Clifton Avenue, North Augusta, was arrested Friday after SLED agents reviewed the case file at the request of Edgefield County Sheriff Jody Rowland. The sheriff has been reviewing old cases that he inherited from former Sheriff Adell Dobey, and he asked SLED in January 2023 to look at the case file on Scott’s son, Charlie. His birth name was Charles Fields III.
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Investigators determined that the 3-year-old boy suffered child abuse for several months before his death, including bruising to his chest, back, ear and jaw. Ultimately, the boy died on Oct. 13, 2020, from some kind of mouthpiece that obstructed his airway, according to a SLED warrant.
His mother was charged Friday with two counts of unlawfully placing a child at risk. The charges are felonies, and Scott faces up to 10 years in prison on each charge, if convicted.
Scott was booked Friday into the Edgefield County Detention Center. The case will be prosecuted by the 11th Circuit Solicitor’s Office after the investigation by the SLED Special Victims Unit.
The warrants detail the allegations:
The boy’s father, Charles Fields, said Tuesday that Codi Scott would not have harmed their son, and he says a judge at the bond hearing indicated another arrest is pending.
Fields released this statement: “Almost 4 years of waiting for answers, and this still isn’t it. Codi, though we had our problems, was and still is a great mother. I’ve been waiting on God to give me the words to say today, and this is what he has put in my heart.
“It was my job to protect my family and I wasn’t there for my boy, She and I both will live with this for the rest of our lives. That’s a judgement we have been given. In this court room I want the man who harmed my son, and for God’s judgement to be witnessed in it.”
