A mother and her boyfriend are in jail in Maryland after killing their 6-year-old son by beating him to death because he stole money from its owner.
At about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, the Baltimore Police Department was called to a home on the 6300 block of Greenspring Avenue because a child who was later named as Brian Graham was not responded. He was rushed to the hospital by paramedics, but he died there. A medical examiner found that blunt force injuries was the cause of death.
Cops arrested Brandon’s mother Jalesia Offer and her boyfriend Brandon Wheatley, both 34, on charges of child abuse resulting in death and assault. Local NBC affiliate WBAL and ABC affiliate WMAR obtained charging documents that laid out the brutal way young Brian died. The alleged beating reportedly began earlier in the week when Brian took money from her wallet.
“She hit Brian several times with a closed fist and smacked him.” “And Mr. Wheatley kept up the physical punishment after her,” the papers said.
Offer is said to have told police that she thought some of his bruises might have come from playing fight with his brother. The document said Wheatley said he “play fights” with Brandon and that Brandon gets bruises easily because his skin is light.
Wheatley went to give Brandon a bath on the night he died. After a while, Offer is said to have said that she went into the bathroom and saw her man lying on the floor and Brandon not moving in the very hot tub. Wheatley was awake when she woke him up, and they got the boy out of the tub. She supposedly said that they did CPR and put burn cream on him until the ambulance came.
Police say Wheatley later told them that Brandon playing with the jets was the last thing he remembered before he fell asleep. In the statement, it was said that he said he fell asleep while sitting down because of a disability. It was said that the water got as hot as 128 degrees.
The medical examiner said that the boy’s death was caused by murder. He allegedly had a cut liver, several broken ribs, and internal bleeding in his head and torso.
Reporters were told by Baltimore Police Det. Nikki Fennoy, “This is just a very tragic and sad story.”
Police also found that Brandon’s brother, who is eight years old, had cuts to his face and couldn’t move his left arm. The boy was taken care of by Child Protective Services.
Offer and Wheatley are both in jail without bail. They have a court date planned for Monday.