JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – News4Jax has obtained an audio recording believed to be of Lonna Barton that is now a part of the police investigation into the disappearance of her 21-month-old son, Lonzie Barton.
On the audio tape, Lonna Barton, who is now in jail on charges of child neglect and lying to police, admitted to using drugs and questioned whether or not her boyfriend, Ruben Ebron, killed her son and where her son's body might be. The recording was sent to News4Jax by someone who requested not to be identified.
News4Jax played the audio recording for Lonna Barton's estranged husband, Chris Barton, who was in court Wednesday for her first appearance. He confirmed the voice on the tape was Lonna Barton's, and he was visibly upset when he heard her talking about their missing son. But he said he still doesn't believe Lonna Barton had anything to do with Lonzie's disappearance.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Office investigators have received the audio recording, which might have been illegally taped if it was recorded without Lonna Barton's permission.
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On the recording, someone asks Lonna Barton if she thinks someone put Lonzie in a freezer somewhere.
"I don't know. I couldn't fathom that, you know what I mean?" Lonna Barton responded. "I couldn't fathom someone doing that to anyone, and not a baby. I can see you freaking out. You freaked out. OK, that's the situation that I feel like -- because I don't feel like there was any intention to hurt him."
It appears one of Lonna Barton's friends secretly recorded the conversation, as the young mother verbalized her thoughts about what might have happened the night Ebron (pictured) reported the child was abducted in a car theft. In the audio, Lonna Barton talks hypothetically about Ruben accidentally killing her son.
"Something happened to the baby and he freaked out, and he put him somewhere but where? But hopefully it's somewhere that's not cold-hearted, you know what I mean, like in a river," she said. "Not to mention to be able to walk away from something like that, you know what I mean? To leave him like that. I've thought about every scenario I could possibly think of, like different angles even, like even like -- he couldn't do that, you know what I mean?"
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Lonna Barton can also be heard on the tape admitting to using drugs.
"I don't buy it, and I don't sell it, but I do it occasionally, if it's there," she said. "I don't pay for it, but if someone offers it to me, then I'll do it. And I said, 'I can tell you this right now, I'm not a pill addict.'"
Lonna Barton went on to say she helped search for her son while she was drunk to ease the pain. She said she backtracked by herself on several local roads, looking for her own son's body along with others.
"They are still looking, but I don't think they are looking as hard," she said. "They are letting the community come in now."
Someone asks where searchers are looking for Lonzie.
"Honestly, they haven't like directed a certain spot," Lonna Barton responded. "I mean, really, they don't want you looking where they are looking, because if you run up on something before they do, it's going to be (expletive) with their evidence or whatever."
On the audio tape, Lonna Barton can also be heard talking about how her relationship with Chris Barton fell apart. She mentions Ruben Ebron's name several times and said that the whole situation has caused her to lose sleep.