A 20-month-old died at the hands of his babysitter, who became so frustrated that he texted the toddler’s mother to say the boy “gotta go” before breaking his ribs and lacerating his liver, according to Virginia police.
The Newport News Police Department said in a press release that officers responded to a report of an unresponsive child at a home on Cedar Avenue around 7:46 a.m. on April 5. Paramedics arrived and pronounced the boy dead at the scene. The boy, who has not been publicly identified, died as a result of “internal trauma” according to an autopsy. After a “thorough investigation,” police arrested Zai-Twond Perry, 25, on charges of second-degree murder and felony child abuse on Friday.
An arrest affidavit obtained by local NBC affiliate WAVY revealed that the boy’s mother enlisted Perry, a family friend, to babysit her son. Perry allegedly told detectives during an interview that he discovered the boy playing in his own feces, according to the station. He was giving the boy a bath when he allegedly squeezed his ribs out of frustration. The autopsy revealed that the boy had bruises on his torso and broken ribs.
According to the affidavit, the child also suffered a three-inch laceration on the liver, which resulted in internal bleeding as well as bleeding on the brain, possibly caused by Perry shaking him. Perry allegedly texted the boy’s mother throughout the day that the toddler “gotta go.”
Perry allegedly claimed the boy hit his head on the side of the bathtub, but that explanation did not match the autopsy findings, according to the affidavit. Since the incident, the defendant has been in jail on unrelated charges. His next court date is set for July 2. It’s unclear whether he has been assigned or hired an attorney.
