Mother charged with murder, neighbors recall the scene

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An Indianapolis mother is behind bars, charged with arson and the murder of her 7-year-old son.

According to an affidavit for probable cause, Jessica Rogers was making meth last month when the apartment caught on fire.

According to investigators, she saved herself but did little to save her son.

Like most who responded to the apartment fire on West Washington that early December morning, neighbor Betty Brinson knew something wasn't right.

"I asked her where her son was because she kept yelling, her son, her son, and I said, 'Where is he?' And she says, 'He's in there,' and I said, 'Well why are you out here?'"

It's testimony like Brinson's that fill a 9-page affidavit, charging 30-year-old Jessica Rogers with arson and the murder of her 7-year-old son Dreydon Webb.

ONLINE EXTRA | Read the probable cause affidavit

The details are graphic and disturbing, painting a picture of a mother on drugs and alcohol who was making meth when a blast caught the house on fire.

She is quoted as saying, "I messed up and it blew up in my face."

Rogers and her boyfriend jumped out a window to safety but Rogers said the fire was too hot to save her son.

Besides witness testimony and even Rogers' own statements, there's this: the size of their apartment. 32 feet by 9 feet - smaller than three parking spaces. Investigators call it an open floor plan with barely any furniture. So how could Rogers not get to her little boy who was crying for help?

Recorded in the affidavit was Draydon's cries of "Help me, Mommy" four or five times, even after Rogers jumped from the window the boy's pleas were heard from outside.

"I couldn't believe that she jumped and then he got out and left him in there, and no one to help him. That's what got me," said neighbor, Anna Whited.

Emotions said to be missing from Jessica Rogers that December morning are now overflowing on West Washington Street from neighbors. They're mourning Draydon Webb, and furious a mother could be accused of doing something so unimaginable.

"Nobody should ever leave a child behind," said Neighbor, Gloria Clark. "I hope she burns. I hope she burns in Hell for this."