Police officials said the 22-year-old suspect, later identified as Anthony, was taken into custody and later charged with aggravated child abuse and aggravated neglect of a child in the toddler’s brutal death. Prosecutors say the young man reportedly killed his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son to death. The suspect reportedly beat the little boy to death with a toy.
Police officials said the dispatcher received a 911 call reporting an unresponsive 2-year-old boy at a residence. The first responders located the child, who was not breathing and was bleding from the mouth. The 2-year-old boy also had bruising on the abdomen, sides, and back, as well as a long bruise on the right side of his face. The boy was rushed to the local hospital, where he was pronounced dead. During an interview with investigators, the mother reportedly said that she last saw her child in good health at about 11:17 p.m. the previous evening.
She said that she had left her son in the care of Anthony that evening while she was asleep. The boy’s mom also told investigators that she was aware that Anthony disciplines her child and has seen him use a belt or braided dog toy to strike the child when disciplining him. The unfortunate mom also said that she recently noticed excess bruising and wounds on her child but was told by Anthony that the child had fallen out of bed.
During an interview with investigators, the 22-year-old suspect reportedly admitted to hitting the child with a belt harder than he should a few weeks before this incident, as well as striking the child 7 to 8 times with a braided dog toy in the back and face. He also admitted to striking the child with an open hand in the chest at least once or twice before shoving the child into a corner. After beating the child, he put the boy back in bed. Just few minutes later, he saw the boy fall out of the bed, which is when he noticed that the child was unresponsive and called 911.
