New York Times, January 11, 1999Pa. Pastor Arrested in Endangerment
By The Associated PressPHILADELPHIA (AP) -- A minister who left town shortly after a boy he and his wife cared for died from a severe beating has been arrested in Georgia on child endangerment charges.
The Rev. Javan McBurrows was arrested Sunday in the Atlanta suburb of Stone Mountain, less than two days after 4-year-old Michael Davis died from what the minister's wife said was a bathtub fall.
With McBurrows was his wife, Jane, their five children and the brother and sister of little Michael.
McBurrows has not been charged in the Michael's death and police did not say if he was a suspect.
The endangerment charge was filed when police went to the McBurrow's North Hills home and found it to be in ``deplorable'' condition, allegedly unfit for habitation.
McBurrows, who was reportedly staying at the home of Mrs. McBurrows' relatives, was being held pending an extradition hearing on a fugitive from justice warrant.
Investigators said they want to question the minister about the death, since an autopsy showed Michael was the victim of a severe, prolonged beating.
McBurrows' lawyer said his client has done nothing wrong.
``(Mrs. McBurrows) said as far as she's concerned, she never saw her husband hurt the child in any way,'' lawyer Harry Rubin said Monday.
Michael and his two siblings -- ages 7 and 5 -- had been left in the McBurrows' care by their mother, Erika Daye. Ms. Daye, a parishioner at Third Christian Church in West Philadelphia where McBurrows is pastor, has several other children and was unable to care for them all, prosecutors said.