WARNING: DISTRESSING CONTENT: Deavan Williams, 22, is accused of wanton murder after his girlfriend’s 1-year-old son died choking on his own used diaper while living in horrifying conditions.
The 1-year-old boy was kept in a playpen covered in ‘animal urine, animal feces, raw sewage, decomposing animals’ (Image: WNKY)
A Kentucky couple is accused of keeping a 1-year-old boy in a spider-infested basement and garage until he choked on a “feces-contaminated diaper” and died with “suspicious trauma.”
Deavan Williams, 22, of Allen County, has been and first-degree child abuse of a child under age 12 in connection with the alleged The boy’s mother, Alexandrae Price, 22, has also been charged with child abuse, court records show.
Police were called to the couple’s home at around 10pm on July 27 after receiving a report about the boy being transported to hospital, where he was pronounced dead with “suspicious trauma, including mouth bleeding and body bruising,” according to an arrest citation obtained by .
Williams had been at home taking care of the baby while Price was at work, the arrest citation stated. According to the document, the boy lost consciousness after eating a diaper filled with feces while inside a playpen in a garage as Williams cared for him.
Williams told police that he fell asleep and the boy “consumed portions of a feces-contaminated diaper” and choked. He “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.
Deavan Williams has been charged with wanton murder and first-degree child abuse of a child under age 12 (Image: Allen County Sheriff’s Office)
According to the document, Williams also admitted that he and Price used a garden hose to bathe the baby outdoors and said that he was “surprised the baby did not have parasites due to the filth, and that he knew the baby had been eating a feces-filled diaper inside the playpen prior to becoming unresponsive.”
The police report said that Williams “knowingly subjected” the infant to “extreme endangerment and cruel punishment,” including “intentionally feeding him extremely spicy foods despite Alexandrae Price telling him to stop… and acknowledging that the child routinely consumed diapers, couch cushions, and other unsafe objects.”
The boy’s mother, Alexandrae Price, has also been charged with child abuse (Image: Allen County Sheriff’s Office)
Authorities quickly discovered the boy had been living in horrifying conditions. “A physical inspection and interviews revealed Williams knowingly subjected the child under twelve to extreme endangerment and cruel punishment, residing in 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 citation states.
An arrest warrant for Price describes other disturbing details, including that the boy was living in the basement of the home which had a lack of running water.
“Price also stated that the living area had flies and spiders. A large amount of trash and debris was also found in the living area, posing significant health hazards. The living area was also reported to have high moisture levels and poor ventilation, posing a health hazard,” the mother’s arrest citation states.
Authorities discovered ‘significant health hazards’ in the home (Image: WNKY)
An arrest warrant served against Williams for murder charges on August 3 further stated that he provided additional details regarding the “hazardous” home the boy lived in, “[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 parasite.”
Williams and Price are scheduled for preliminary court hearings in Allen County District Court on Wednesday.
In a statement issued on Saturday, the Scottsville Police Department said they are still awaiting the complete Medical Examiner’s report and that authorities are preparing additional search warrants and interview statements. The department noted that additional charges “remain possible”.
“We understand the community wants answers. This is not the movies or television. Nothing moves fast in an investigation of this magnitude. Evidence must be collected, analyzed, verified, and documented, and some results simply take time. Our responsibility is to get it right, not rush the process,” the statement read.