Mom and Boyfriend Accused of Beating Her 1-Year-Old Son to Death, Both Suspects Allegedly on the Run: Police

Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade said that 1-year-old Prodigy Hunter was "brutally beaten"

Mississippi police responded to the 911 call around 10 a.m.: An infant – with bruises covering his small body – had been brought to the doorstep of his neighbor’s apartment just days before Christmas. The neighbor called 911, telling the Jackson Police Department that the 1-year-old, Prodigy Hunter, was unresponsive that Dec. 21 morning.

By the end of the day, Prodigy was dead.

The Jackson Police Department tells PEOPLE they are now searching for the toddler’s mother – who was released on bail earlier in the investigation – and her boyfriend, who has allegedly been on the run since the toddler’s death.

Calling the case “very disturbing,” Jackson Police Chief Joseph Wade alleged in videotaped press conference on the day of Prodigy’s death that the baby was “brutally beaten,” with “a massive amount of trauma and bruising to the body.”

“The officer couldn't even look me in the face when he was describing what this child looked like,” the chief added.

At the time of the press conference, police were questioning both Prodigy’s mother, Yolanda Nicole Hunter, 29, and the neighbor who had dialed 911, to learn more about what had occurred at the family’s Jackson apartment, according to the chief.

The following day, Hunter surrendered to the Jackson Police Department on a charge of felony child abuse. She was later released on a $10,000 bond, Public Information Officer Sam Brown now tells PEOPLE.

“Then the results came back,” Brown says of the department’s ongoing investigation, and Hunter’s charge was upgraded to capital murder, which can carry a death sentence in Mississippi.

Police have issued a warrant for her re-arrest, according to Brown. (Hunter’s online arrest information does not reflect the upgraded charge.)

Hunter is now allegedly on the run — along with her boyfriend, who uses the names Herman Coleman and Herman Gardner, per Brown.

Police have also issued a warrant on a capital murder charge for Coleman, 33, who had allegedly been on the scene around the time of the child’s death and later fled, according to police. Nearly two weeks later, he has not been detained as of Wednesday morning, according to Brown.

No additional charges have been filed against the couple, Brown says.

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The police have not yet handed the case over to the district attorney’s office, so indictments have not been filed, according to Brown. The Jackson Circuit Court confirmed no indictments had been filed against Hunter or any of the names associated with her boyfriend.

A handful of other children had been staying in the Sunset Plaza apartment where Prodigy lived with his mother, the chief said at the press conference.

Police are investigating any possible history of violence reported from the home, Chief Wade said, adding that the other children would be assessed for any potential injuries and that Child Protective Services had been notified, along with their grandparents “so maybe they can add some light to what we’re dealing with.”

“We want to make sure that we hold these people accountable for whatever has happened inside that apartment,” the chief said.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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