Suspect charged with murder and aggravated child abuse: Florida

Police say first responders were dispatched to a residence in the 1700 block of Saxon Street in Tallahassee, Florida after receiving a report of a child who was not breathing.

Despite immediate life-saving efforts, the child was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

The victim was identified as 1-year-old Ky’meria German.

As authorities started their investigation into Ky’meria’s death, police said they “quickly uncovered signs of foul play.”

Arrest papers revealed new elements of the investigation, including how 25-year-old Deric Young allegedly broke down in tears and told investigators he repeatedly punched the child.

Before Ky’meria’s death, the child had been left in the care of the Young. He is the boyfriend of a woman hired to babysit the child the night before the incident, and he was there when authorities arrived and found the girl unresponsive.

An autopsy was conducted a day after the child died, revealing troubling details about her injuries. The autopsy showed that the young girl had suffered severe injuries, including multiple strikes to the head with a closed fist that ultimately caused the child’s death.

Once the autopsy results were revealed to detectives they interviewed Young for a second time. After initially denying being the cause of any harm, Young allegedly confessed to striking her.

“After being presented the details of [the girl’s] injuries, all of which indicated that another person had physically abused her to the point of death, the defendant began crying,” an affidavit said. “When asked, the defendant put forth that he was sorry for what had occurred.”

He allegedly told authorities that he punched Ky’meria in the head, which officials believe caused a brain bleed. He also allegedly admitted to punching Ky’meria in her face and thigh.

Allegedly, one of Ky’meria’s legs was broken in a way that “would have undoubtedly been extremely painful and severely impacted her ability to crawl or move.”

“The defendant used a closed fist to forcefully strike your Affiant’s head,” the arrest papers said. “The defendant would go on to describe how he had used both his right and left fists to strike [the child] two to three times both the right and left sides of her head/face.”

Despite the alleged admissions of violence, Young said he did not intend to kill the child.

Due to Young previously mentioning his lack of sleep and feeling of stress while caring for the young child and her brother, detectives asked Young if he had lost his temper during a stressful moment.

He denied losing his temper, instead claiming he was only “playing” with the 1-year-old when he hit Ky’meria. Young also told detectives that he smoked cannabis minutes before the alleged abuse, saying “something to the effect of ‘When I smoke, I want to play,’” the affidavit said.

Detectives asked Young if he would ever hit his own child in the head and face to “play” with them. He said no, per the papers.

Young went on to tell detectives that after he hit the child, he left the room, leaving her lying on the bed next to her sibling.

A short time later, police said Young returned to the bedroom and, “afraid that his previous actions might have caused [her] harm,” he listened to Ky’meria’s chest. After hearing no heartbeat, he rushed her to the living room and asked someone to call 911.

Young is charged with murder and aggravated child abuse.