The tragic life of an Oklahoma baby girl who went missing after her mother reportedly sold her to a drug dealer dubbed “Carlos” in exchange for meth is the subject of new charges. Ashley Rowland, a 39-year-old mom, was previously accused of child abandonment in connection with the 2022 disappearance of London Kerr, her daughter, who was then 2 years old, reports Law and Crime.
Police reportedly discovered horrifying details about London’s life before her disappearance while searching for her. Rowland and Joshua Denton, her 40-year-old boyfriend, are therefore in jail on other charges.
Rowland is charged with two counts of committing a pattern of criminal acts and permitting child abuse by injury. According to jail records, Denton is charged with six counts of child abuse and one count each of participating in a pattern of criminal offenses, forcible sodomy, and making lewd or obscene proposals or acts to a child. Denton is accused of assaulting his children in addition to Rowland’s daughter.
A probable cause arrest warrant states that investigators spoke with Denton’s children, who described alarming claims. According to his 15-year-old son, Denton allegedly struck London with a wooden paddle and shot her with a BB gun, leaving her with bruises and marks. A BB gun and a paddle bearing the words “The Last Resort” were found at a storage facility that belonged to Denton and Rowland, according to the authorities.
The teenager also claimed that he and his older brother were abused by their father. According to the lawsuit, he said his father belted him and duct-taped him to a chair. The youngster claimed that Rowland saw the abuse and did nothing, while Denton threatened to murder him and “make him disappear” if he told the authorities.
Missing Oklahoma 2-year-old sold to meth dealer by mom, who had abused her with paddle and BB gun: report https://t.co/WfxzZeuiuQ pic.twitter.com/Y9bGGyUVrC
— New York Post (@nypost) August 10, 2025
According to Denton’s son, he last saw London in a car with Denton and Rowland. Before they left in their car, Rowland reportedly urged the child to “say goodbye to London”. She was never seen by him again. According to Rowland, they were taking her to the father’s house in London. There was no date in the affidavit.
In the affidavit, Denton’s younger children informed police that their father would lock London in a cupboard and would “more than one time” throw hot sauce on her eyes. It is also said that he forced her to bite into a hot pepper. Denton was accused of sexually abusing his 8-year-old daughter.
⚠️ WARNING: This post contains graphic descriptions of alleged child abuse & sexual assault.
London Kerr, then 2, was allegedly beaten with a paddle, shot with a BB gun, & handed over to a meth dealer by her mother. Over three years later, police still don’t know where London… pic.twitter.com/fxaTfCw6yX
— True Crime Updates (@TrueCrimeUpdat) August 10, 2025
After being arrested in November, Rowland was questioned by investigators. She asserted that London’s biological father was the previously stated “Carlos”. She claimed that she met Carlos at a parking lot in the middle of April 2022 and gave London to him without presenting any of her identity. Police said Rowland said Carlos was from Mexico and that they had no means to get in touch with him.
According to the affidavit, Rowland acknowledged that she was in Georgia at the time and with her then-boyfriend, whom police now suspect to be the girl’s biological father, when investigators questioned her timeline of when London would have been conceived. With the birthdate she provided, police were unable to find anyone called Carlos.
