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Crime & Safety

Jeffrey Farrey’s Attorney Says Farrey Did Not Kill His Son

Defense attorney says wife Jenna Farrey is manipulative, and that the former St. Charles couple's 5-month-old son did not die by his father's hand.

Rick Nagel, Community Contributor

Posted Sat, Nov 23, 2013 at 10:52 am CT

By Ted Schnell

The attorney of the former St. Charles resident being held in the death of his 5-month-old son, Jackson Farrey, whose body was found Wednesday in the New Mexico desert, says his client is being manipulated by his wife.

Jeffrey Farrey, 22, was extradited from Michigan on Wednesday and booked into the El Paso County Jail, where he was charged with injury to a child by omission, the El Paso Times reported Thursday. The soldier, based in Fort Bliss, TX, was arrested Sunday in Michigan as absent without leave.

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Farrey, his wife, Jenna, both formerly of St. Charles, their 17-month-old, son Blake, and Jackson were reported missing in West El Paso on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. The parents and Blake were found Sunday in an Escanaba, MI, hotel.

Authorities on Wednesday found a body they believe is Jackson’s in the desert near Orogrande, NM, according to media reports earlier this week.

Find out what's happening in Genevawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Farrey’s attorney told the El Paso Times on Friday that his client is “very distraught.” Joe Spencer also told the newspaper that Jenna Farrey is “manipulative” with her husband. "He is as much of a victim as the child. He had nothing to do with the death of that child," Spencer told the paper. “... He lost his son but it wasn't at his hand.”

Jenna Farrey was arrested for violating her her probation on a 2012 case in Texas for abandoning a child with intent to return, ABC 7 in El Paso reported. Convicted in January, terms of her five-year probation barred her from leaving the state. She has waived extradition and is expected to be taken from the Delta County Correctional Facility in Michigan to El Paso this week.

Jeffrey Farrey is assigned to the First Armored Division at Fort Bliss and missed formation on Friday, so a quad was sent to check on his well-being when he failed to respond to phone and text messages, according to ABC 7 in El Paso.