A couple from Houston have been charged with the alleged torture and murder of an eight-year-old in March 2021.
Kayla Holzendorf, 25, and her boyfriend Dominique Lewis, 29, were indicted on Thursday in Harris County for capital murder in relation to the death of her son Keyontae Holzendorf.
According to prosecutors, the minor was handcuffed, severely beaten and bound with duct tape, which lead to his death either from “blunt force trauma” or “suffocation on the blood from his broken teeth”.
“We believe he was handcuffed, bound at the ankles and legs with ligatures and duct tape, had his mouth taped shut,” Harris County district attorney Kim Ogg said. “The way this little boy died is almost unthinkable and absolutely horrifying.”
The district attorney added that the attack was carried out by the child’s mother and her partner.
The couple, who were living in a motel, called 911 on 21 March last year and reported that the child had drowned in the bathtub.
The Houston police and fire department officers rushed the minor to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Keyontae had several injuries on his body, including severe ligature marks on his ankles and wrists, broken teeth, and large pieces of skin missing from his thigh, chest, upper arms, and genitalia, consistent with duct tape being ripped off frantically, according to court documents.
The couple informed authorities that the boy had not gone to school in a year-and-a-half and didn't have any friends. They said they would buy a large package of muffins in the morning from a nearby supermarket, and the child would then be made to sell it in the parking lot of another supermarket, claiming that his mother had baked them.
Gilbert Sawtelle, an assistant district attorney who is prosecuting the case, said: “This is obvious child torture, and the evidence is clear that the defendants acted intentionally; it was capital murder.”
If convicted, Ms Holzendorf and Mr Lewis could face life in prison without parole or possibly the death penalty, the DA’s office said in a statement.
