Left inset: Deavan Williams. Right inset: Alexandrae Price (Allen County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Kentucky home where Deavan Williams and Alexandrae Price allegedly lived with Price's 1-year-old son (WNKY).
A Kentucky couple is accused of forcing a 1-year-old boy to spend his days in a spider-filled basement and garage, where his mom's boyfriend let him play in filth and eat his own used diapers until the child choked and died.
Deavan Williams, 22, is charged with wanton murder and first-degree child abuse of a child under age 12 in connection with the alleged mistreatment of his girlfriend's son. The mother, Alexandrae Price, also 22, is charged with child abuse, according to court records.
An arrest warrant obtained by local NBC affiliate WLEX says Price left her toddler in Williams' care and allowed him to neglect and abuse the child until he eventually died on July 27 with "suspicious trauma, including mouth bleeding and body bruising," the warrant says.
Williams told police he fell asleep while the boy was in his care and the child "consumed portions of a feces-contaminated diaper" and choked.
"Williams admitted that he was [the child's] primary caregiver and the only adult supervising [the child] during the time period immediately preceding the child's collapse," the arrest warrant states.
According to police, Williams "knowingly subjected" the child to "extreme endangerment and cruel punishment," including "intentionally feeding him extremely spicy foods despite Alexandrae Price telling him to stop."
The boy was forced to live in a basement filled with flies and spiders, as well as an "un-air-conditioned garage filled with trash, beer cans, soiled diapers, and heavy cat urine, where the infant's playpen sat directly on the contaminated floor," the arrest warrant states.
Williams allegedly admitted that he and Price bathed the child outdoors with a garden hose, with Williams telling cops he was "surprised the baby did not have parasites due to the filth," according to the warrant.
"He knew the baby had been eating a feces-filled diaper inside the playpen prior to becoming unresponsive," the document states.
Price admitted to investigators that "the living area" where her son was kept "had flies and spiders," according to the warrant. "A large amount of trash and debris was also found in the living area, posing significant health hazards," the warrant says. "The living area was also reported to have high moisture levels and poor ventilation, posing a health hazard."
Price told police she would go to work and often leave her son with Williams. While in his care, the child "lived and remained in a playpen with an environment contained by animal urine, animal feces, raw sewage, decomposing animals, and other hazardous conditions that Williams personally described as containing pathogens and parasites."
Williams and Price are both scheduled to appear in court for their preliminary hearings on Wednesday in Allen County District Court.
Comments