Demetrius Beatty (Metropolitan Police Department).
A Washington, D.C., man is accused of fatally beating a 2-month-old girl after learning that the baby’s mother had twins with another man who is serving time in prison.
Demetrius Beatty, 40, allegedly killed Khamyah Honesty, one of the twins, in a fit of jealousy after discovering he was not her biological father. The revelation reportedly left him “crushed,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia and court records obtained by local CBS affiliate WUSA.
During a court hearing last week, Beatty’s defense attorney argued that the baby was killed by Beatty’s oldest child. The 6-year-old, who is nonverbal and autistic, was reportedly in the home at the time, WUSA reported.
“Someone who attacks and kills an infant child does not immediately call 9-1-1,” the attorney reportedly told the court.
Prosecutors say Beatty’s relationship with Khamyah’s mother deteriorated after he learned that she had the twins with another man, who is incarcerated. Beatty and the woman shared other children and lived together, but they were no longer romantically involved.
The twins’ mother testified that Beatty had helped raise the girls as his own children, but she also said he had threatened them previously.
In the days before Khamyah died, Beatty allegedly warned that the twins were “going to be dead” if their mother left to visit their biological father in prison.
According to court documents, the mother later told Beatty it was “mighty funny that you made that comment and I come back from the grocery store and my daughter dead.”
Beatty called 911 on the night Khamyah was injured and told the dispatcher that his 6-year-old son was to blame, prosecutors said.
“I have an autistic son, and I have a 2-month-old daughter. I guess my autistic son got to the 2-month-year-old daughter [sic] and was fighting her, and he damaged her pretty good,” Beatty said, according to court records. “Her face is swollen, her nose is bleeding. I need help quick.”
Khamyah had fractures to her forehead, the back of her head and the area beneath her chin. She also suffered head trauma, facial bruising and bleeding in her eyes. A forensic pathologist concluded that a 6-year-old could not have inflicted the injuries, according to the court documents.
Police found Beatty carrying the unconscious and unresponsive infant in the lobby of an apartment building. Khamyah was taken to Children’s National Hospital, where she died the following day.
Prosecutors say Beatty gave shifting accounts of the incident as he spoke with investigators and others. Khamyah’s mother said he initially claimed he had gone into the hallway to make a phone call and returned to find the baby bleeding from her nose.
Beatty later alleged that his 6-year-old had “tossed” the infant across the floor, according to court records. He subsequently said he had been playing ball with the children, stepped into the hallway to look for the “men,” and came back to find Khamyah injured.
The mother characterized Beatty’s explanations as “all over the place.” Prosecutors also pointed to several troubling incidents that allegedly occurred before Khamyah’s death.
Sixteen days before the fatal injuries, Khamyah reportedly fell about 75 feet down a Metro escalator after falling from her car seat, court documents say. Her mother said Beatty claimed he had dropped the baby accidentally, but nurses who treated Khamyah questioned that explanation.
Investigators also reviewed an incident in which the twins were left in Beatty’s care while their mother visited their biological father. The mother said Beatty put the babies in a closet, while a relative of the twins’ father told police the children had been locked inside.
According to court records, the relative contacted the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency several times during the two months before Khamyah’s death to report concerns about the twins’ safety.
When questioned about the children being placed in the closet, Beatty allegedly responded, “Them b—es were stinking.”
Beatty is charged with first-degree felony murder and first-degree cruelty to children. He was ordered held without bond and is due back in court on Sept. 28.
The post Dad ‘crushed’ after learning another man fathered his newborn twins beats 1 of the babies to death, locks both in closet because they were ‘stinking’: USAO first appeared on Law & Crime.
