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Yemissi N. Keto (Dallas County Sheriff’s Office) and the home where she killed her 1-year-old son (WOI screenshot)
A 27-year-old woman in Iowa will spend the rest of her life behind bars for torturing and killing her 1-year-old child last year, dousing the 13-month-old in bleach and other chemical cleaners before manually suffocating the boy to death inside of their home.
A jury in Dallas County, Iowa, on Thursday found Yemissi N. Keto guilty on one count of first-degree murder and one count of child endangerment resulting in death, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, officers with the Waukee Police Department at about 9:56 a.m. on Aug. 31, 2023, responded to a 911 call at a residence located in the 200 block of NW Greenwood Place in regards to “an unknown problem.”
Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they located a juvenile male — identified in court documents as “DK” — in an upstairs bedroom in the home. The child had no pulse and was unresponsive.
Emergency medical personnel attempted lifesaving procedures to resuscitate the boy but were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at the scene.
While in the residence, police said they found “several opened bottles of bleach and cleaning substances in the area surrounding DK.” Officers also “detected the strong odor of bleach” and other chemical cleaning agents and noted that the bedroom carpet surrounding DK’s body was wet, as was the floor of the bathroom connected to the bedroom.
Police identified Keto as the victim’s mother and brought her to the station to speak with detectives. Investigators said she confessed to knowingly killing DK in bizarrely brutal fashion.
“During the interview, Yemissi (Keto) admitted to holding DK on the ground and pouring bleach or another cleaning substance over his face,” police wrote in the affidavit, noting that she did so “with the intent to kill DK.”
When the bleach failed to make DK “pass out,” police said that Keto decided to kill her son using her own hands.
“After pouring said substance on his face, Yemissi (Keto) utilized her hand to cover DK’s nose and mouth, causing him to suffocate and stop breathing. Yesmissi (Keto) admitted these actions were taken with the intent to kill DK,” the affidavit states. “Keto, the parent of DK, did commit acts of torture and cruelty, which were intended to cause serious injury.”
Keto is currently scheduled to appear in court before Judge Thomas Patrick Murphy on April 26 for her sentencing hearing. However, under Iowa state law, any individual found guilty of first-degree murder is required to serve a mandatory sentence of life in prison without the possibility for parole.
