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'He's purple': Woman put cigarette out in ear of boyfriend's 3-year-old son, scorched his skin with lighter before beating him to death, police say

 
Left inset: Dominica Mosby (Shelby County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Kevin Horton (GoFundMe). Background: The home where Dominica Mosby allegedly tortured and murdered her boyfriend's 3-year-old son Kevin Horton in Memphis, Tenn. (WHBQ).

Left inset: Dominica Mosby (Shelby County Sheriff's Office). Right inset: Kevin Horton (GoFundMe). Background: The home where Dominica Mosby allegedly tortured and murdered her boyfriend's 3-year-old son Kevin Horton in Memphis, Tenn. (WHBQ).

A Tennessee woman has allegedly confessed to torturing and killing her boyfriend's 3-year-old son, with cops saying she admitted to putting a cigarette out in the boy's ear and scorching his genitals with a lighter before beating him to death.

"I get to the house, she's standing outside," said Keith Horton, father of victim Kevin Horton, in an interview with local Fox affiliate WHBQ about his girlfriend, Dominica Mosby, 29, of Memphis, who is charged with first-degree murder.

"I go in there to see my son, he's ice cold, he's purple," Horton recalled. "He had been dead."

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Mosby has allegedly confessed to killing Kevin on Friday, telling police she tortured him with a lit cigarette and lighter before stomping on his stomach with the heel of her boot and hitting him with closed and open hands in his torso and chest — all because he wouldn't lie down, according to charging documents obtained by local CBS affiliate WREG.

Police say Mosby claimed Kevin was not feeling well and vomiting after being dropped off by his aunt, who denies that the child was sick when she left him with Mosby on Friday morning.

"He was never sick," the aunt, Jasmine Reece, told WHBQ. "That was just a story she told to get her story together, to put in people's heads that he was sick leaving my house. The whole time, he wasn't sick."

A GoFundMe set up by Reece says Kevin was in "perfect health" when she dropped him off with Mosby. "She never called anyone not even his father to let anyone know that something was wrong with him until it was too late," the description alleges.

Mosby allegedly told cops that she woke up around 3 a.m. Saturday and found that Kevin was unresponsive. She called police and the boy was pronounced dead at the scene. He suffered a lacerated liver, internal bleeding, burns on his ear and genitals, and extensive bruising, according to the medical examiner's report.

Mosby was taken into custody and charged with murder and aggravated child abuse. She was being held without bond and scheduled to be arraigned Tuesday.

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