Baby Beaten To Death By Mother And Boyfriend
Kidnapping Revealed As Hoax, Body Recovered, Murder Charges Filed
Re-printed from a story at The Chicago Tribune on May 23rd 2013
A toddler is allegedly murdered by his parents outside Chicago, reported missing and then dumped into a river.
MAYWOOD, ILL. - 12 miles west of Chicago in the suburban city of Maywood a 1-year-old child is reported missing from the home of Lakeshia Baker, 22, and her live-in boyfriend, Michael Scott, 21. Authorities immediately issue a Amber Alert to Chicago and the surrounding communities that this child was missing and presumed to be in great danger.
Prayer vigils were held by the friends and family of the missing child and together they cried out for justice - for this child to be returned. Six days later, their collective prayers would be answered but not in a way that anyone was prepared to handle.
The original Amber Alert report went out on on April 16th 2013. Less than one week later, on April 22nd, police arrest the missing child's mother and her boyfriend as the shocking details of the murder of an innocent child began to emerge.
On May 14th 2013, Robert Larson became the man who found baby Bryeon. Bryeon's badly beaten and decomposing dead body was retrieved as he floated close to the banks of the Des Plaines River which runs, north and south, less than one mile from his family's home.
The distance between Bryeon Hunter's home and the river where his body was found is less than one mile.
Larson, a K-9 trainer in Westchester, spent weeks volunteering to search the river as part of the investigation. He was paddling his kayak just north of 31st Street near the Brookfield Zoo in North Riverside when he noticed the body of a baby face up in the water. The tiny corpse is currently having his identity verified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
On May 23rd 2013, Cook County Prosecutors presented the couple's confession to the murder that they gave to investigators after their story of a kidnapping came less and less plausible. Prosecutors state that, according to Baker and Scott, Bryeon was beaten to death with hangers, fists and a belt on the bathroom floor of his home before being dumped like unwanted garbage into the Des Plaines River - 24 hours prior to Baker and Scott filing the false report of a kidnapping.
Clad in yellow jumpsuits, Baker and Scott, showed no emotion during a five-minute arraignment before Cook County Judge Paula Daleo at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood. Both pled Not Guilty to Murder. Daleo accepted the pleas and scheduled the next hearing for June 18.
Baker is currently being held without bail. Scott’s bail is set at $750,000.
References:
WGN Channel 9, Couple Plead Not Guilty In Maywood Child’s Death
Chicago Tribune, Mom, Boyfriend Plead Not Guilty In Maywood Child's Death
Re-printed from a story at The Chicago Tribune on May 23rd 2013
A toddler is allegedly murdered by his parents outside Chicago, reported missing and then dumped into a river.
MAYWOOD, ILL. - 12 miles west of Chicago in the suburban city of Maywood a 1-year-old child is reported missing from the home of Lakeshia Baker, 22, and her live-in boyfriend, Michael Scott, 21. Authorities immediately issue a Amber Alert to Chicago and the surrounding communities that this child was missing and presumed to be in great danger.
Prayer vigils were held by the friends and family of the missing child and together they cried out for justice - for this child to be returned. Six days later, their collective prayers would be answered but not in a way that anyone was prepared to handle.
The original Amber Alert report went out on on April 16th 2013. Less than one week later, on April 22nd, police arrest the missing child's mother and her boyfriend as the shocking details of the murder of an innocent child began to emerge.
On May 14th 2013, Robert Larson became the man who found baby Bryeon. Bryeon's badly beaten and decomposing dead body was retrieved as he floated close to the banks of the Des Plaines River which runs, north and south, less than one mile from his family's home.
The distance between Bryeon Hunter's home and the river where his body was found is less than one mile.
Larson, a K-9 trainer in Westchester, spent weeks volunteering to search the river as part of the investigation. He was paddling his kayak just north of 31st Street near the Brookfield Zoo in North Riverside when he noticed the body of a baby face up in the water. The tiny corpse is currently having his identity verified by the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office.
On May 23rd 2013, Cook County Prosecutors presented the couple's confession to the murder that they gave to investigators after their story of a kidnapping came less and less plausible. Prosecutors state that, according to Baker and Scott, Bryeon was beaten to death with hangers, fists and a belt on the bathroom floor of his home before being dumped like unwanted garbage into the Des Plaines River - 24 hours prior to Baker and Scott filing the false report of a kidnapping.
Clad in yellow jumpsuits, Baker and Scott, showed no emotion during a five-minute arraignment before Cook County Judge Paula Daleo at the Cook County courthouse in Maywood. Both pled Not Guilty to Murder. Daleo accepted the pleas and scheduled the next hearing for June 18.
Baker is currently being held without bail. Scott’s bail is set at $750,000.
References:
WGN Channel 9, Couple Plead Not Guilty In Maywood Child’s Death
Chicago Tribune, Mom, Boyfriend Plead Not Guilty In Maywood Child's Death
