Credit : Marion County Sheriff's Office; Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney's Office
A Florida man has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of the brutal murder of a 2-year-old girl left in his care. The child, Jacklyn Schwingel, died from catastrophic injuries just a week after her mother ended a relationship with the man responsible.
According to the Fifth Judicial Circuit State Attorney’s Office, a jury found 27-year-old Travis Ray Thompson guilty of first-degree murder following a nearly two-hour deliberation. The verdict followed a harrowing investigation into the May 2022 incident that led to the toddler’s death.
On May 2, 2022, the Marion County Sheriff’s Office responded to a report of suspected child abuse after Jacklyn was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Despite doctors’ efforts, she was pronounced dead shortly after arrival.
Authorities revealed that Jacklyn’s mother had left her daughter in Thompson’s care that morning while she went to work. Just 25 minutes later, she received a phone call from Thompson stating that something was wrong with Jacklyn. Upon returning, she found her daughter “lifeless, with a shallow pulse and a distended abdomen.”
The pair drove Jacklyn toward the hospital, but when she stopped breathing, her mother instructed Thompson to call 911. Emergency responders met them at a nearby business and transported the child to the hospital, where medical staff quickly suspected internal bleeding and alerted law enforcement and child welfare authorities.
In a police interview, Thompson claimed he was in another room when he heard a loud noise and returned to find Jacklyn unresponsive. “Despite being the only person left with the victim, Thompson claimed he did not know how the victim became injured,” the State Attorney’s Office stated.
A report by the Medical Examiner’s Office, issued on September 1, 2022, confirmed that Jacklyn had suffered traumatic injuries to her torso, including internal bleeding and a severed spine. The examiner concluded that Thompson applied “significant gradual force” to her upper and lower body, bending her backward past her “natural range of motion” until her back broke.
“This monster stole the life of an innocent child, and today, the justice system made sure he will never walk free again,” said Bill Gladson, State Attorney for the Fifth Judicial Circuit. “Life in prison is too good for this kind of evil.”
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
