Alex Paul
Jonathon Babb never had a chance at life.
He was born into a world of abuse and neglect, but no one expected that his life would end so soon, less than two years after he took his first breath.
His killer, Joseph Teigen, now 35, will be released on parole back to Linn County today. His original sentence for manslaughter, was cut by 20 percent per sentencing due to good behavior.
Teigen served his sentence at the Mill Creek Correctional Facility in Salem and is being released to his mother’s home near Sodaville on Mountain Home Drive.
The parole is a continuing chapter in one of Sweet Home’s more heinous crimes.
Police reports indicate that Teigen lived in a trailer at South Fork Trailer Park with his wife, Christy, and Jonathon’s mother, Angela Babb.
During questioning, it was learned that Babb was Teigen’s girlfriend as well.
At 11:08 a.m. February 29, 1992, Babb reported that her two-year-old son was not breathing, saying that he “got into cayenne pepper.”
It was later learned that Teigen and Babb had been in the front room of the trailer on a mattress and watching TV while Teigen’s wife, Christy, was taking a shower.
While Teigen was not the father of Babb’s three children, he acted as a disciplinarian, spanking them with a rolled up newspaper, or threatening them by cracking a leather belt on his hand.
Jonathon had been in trouble much of the morning for taking off his diaper in the back bedroom where the three children were often locked away.
At one point, the children had been taken away from their mother by the Department of Human Services due to reports of neglect. Child care workers reported several times that the children were dirty and not taken care of.
During questioning Teigen admitted sprinkling hot cayenne pepper onto Jonathon’s face and rubbing it onto his teeth in an attempt to discipline him.
Teigen contended that the youngster must have gotten hold of the pepper can and ingested it himself.
An autopsy revealed that the pepper had been packed into the child’s airway, citing “extreme blockage.”
While Teigen was lodged in the Linn County Jail awaiting trial, Babb wrote a letter to the man who killed her son.
In it, she noted, “My feelings are not going to change. I still love you. I still love you and I always will. Please don’t cut me out of your life because of this.”
At the same time, his wife wrote, “I love you sweetheart. I believe in you, no matter what.”
Teigen was known to have a bad temper and was called a liar by his in-laws at the time. He often carried a knife.