Johnston County man admitted shaking, throwing toddler who died, warrant alleges
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- Lance Pearce admitted to shaking toddler Jensen Jackson, warrants state
- Medical staff found brain injuries and extensive bruising, prompting surgery.
- Pearce faces first-degree murder; DSS removed two other children for safety.
A Johnston County man accused of killing his girlfriend’s toddler told police he shook and threw the child because he wouldn’t stop crying, search warrants alleged Thursday.
Lance Nolan Pearce, 30, of Garner is charged with first-degree murder in the Sunday death of 2-year-old Jensen Scott Jackson. Pearce was originally charged July 4 with intentional child abuse inflicting serious injury, but the charge was upgraded after Jensen died two days later.
The child’s mother was at work the afternoon of July 3 when Pearce allegedly called her to report Jensen was suffering from seizures and wouldn’t “come back,” according to search warrants. The toddler apparently had a history of passing out after seizures, but when Pearce called to say the boy’s breathing was getting worse, his mother called 911 on her way back from work.
Paramedics took Jensen to WakeMed Hospital, where he arrived about 6:30 p.m., the warrants state. He was diagnosed with brain swelling, a brain bleed and bruising all over his body. Jensen was taken into emergency surgery to relieve the pressure on his brain, and hospital staff called the Johnston County Sheriff’s Office, according to a news release.
Meanwhile, the Johnston County Department of Social Services responded to the Garner area home, removing Jensen’s mother’s two other children after finding “questionable bruising,” court documents state. Those children, ages 2 and 3, were taken to the hospital for further evaluation.
A doctor told detectives Jensen had sustained a “midline shift” to his brain, when the brain shifts positions inside the skull, according to search warrants. The boy’s mother said she believed her son fell after seizing, but when investigators spoke with Pearce, her live-in boyfriend, he said he’d shaken Jensen and thrown him into his crib, the warrants state
“Lance also admitted to ‘popping’ ‘JJ’ on the buttocks prior to the shaking,” according to one search warrant.
During a search of the home, police seized a small fitted bedsheet with sea creatures and apparent blood on it, a bloodstained gray blanket with a cow, toddler pants with possible feces, a white drapery wand, a wooden back scratcher and a broken chair leg, the warrant shows. Investigators also swabbed a possible bloodstain on the dining room floor.
After speaking with Pearce, deputies arrested him on the child-abuse charge, booking him into the jail with bail initially set at $500,000. Jensen died just before 9 a.m. Sunday, and Pearce’s charge was upgraded the next day.
He remained in the Johnson County jail without bail as of Thursday afternoon.
This story was originally published July 10, 2025 at 2:06 PM.
