Left inset: Anthony Evans (Chicago Police Department). Right inset: Kayson Flowers (Facebook/Kayla Flowers). Background: The Roseland neighborhood of Chicago, Ill., where Anthony Evans allegedly had a family member hand off his son Kayson Flowers to his mother in a covered stroller after killing him hours earlier, cops say (WBBM/YouTube).
An Illinois dad has been arrested for killing his 2-month-old son and propping him up in a covered stroller, with a family member handing the boy off to his mother and telling her he was just sleeping, cops say.
"Me, not thinking anything of it, because it was raining, I just took my baby to the house, because I didn't want my child to get sick," mother Kayla Flowers told reporters in May about discovering that her son, Kayson Flowers, was actually dead on April 28.
"When I went in the house, I uncovered the stroller," Kayla Flowers said, according to local ABC affiliate WLS. "My baby was lifeless."
Anthony Evans, 23, enlisted a relative to hand Kayson off to Kayla Flowers in Chicago's Roseland neighborhood after killing him, according to police. Investigators say the child had been dead for six to eight hours; his arms and legs were allegedly covered in bruises.
"My baby's dead, they killed my baby!" Kayla Flowers told her pastor, Joe Huizenga, in a phone call after the horrifying discovery, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
"He's black and blue," she said, according to Huizenga.
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Kayson was rushed to a local hospital and pronounced dead, with authorities and doctors reporting signs of child abuse. His death was ruled a homicide and Kayla Flowers offered a reward for information leading to an arrest with help from Huizenga's church, Roseland Christian Ministries.
"He never got the chance to say his first words, take his first steps, or celebrate his first birthday," Kayla and Roseland Christian Ministries reportedly said in a joint statement in May. "He was a really, really beautiful baby," Huizenga told WLS. "He had chubby little cheeks [and] a beautiful skin tone."
Huizenga added, "It's just absolutely horrific."
Kayla Flowers told police that Kayson was allegedly staying with Evans and a family member for roughly a week when she went to pick the boy up on April 28. Evans was not at the relative's home when Kayla picked Kayson up, according to police.
Evans was arrested on Monday in the 4700 block of South Champlain Avenue, according to a Chicago Police Department press release. He has been charged with murder.
"Me and my son finally got our justice," Kayla Flowers wrote on Facebook Wednesday.
"No words can explain how grateful I am," she said. "This means so much to me. My son didn't get a chance to grow up with his family due to his father (Anthony Evans) taking my son's life."