Demetrius Beatty, 40, has been charged with first-degree felony murder after prosecutors say he beat his girlfriend’s infant daughter to death and attempted to blame the killing on his autistic 6-year-old son.
The Washington, D.C. Man was ordered held without bond following his Tuesday arrest in the Aug. 16 death of 2-month-old Khamyah Honesty, whose twin sister and three other siblings have since been removed from the home by social services. Beatty was watching all five children alone at his New Jersey Avenue residence while the twins’ mother went to a grocery store, according to an arrest affidavit.
Beatty’s attempt to shift blame began before police even reached the apartment. In a 911 call, he claimed his “autistic son” had attacked the baby, providing dispatchers with the wrong apartment unit and incorrect age for the boy.
“I guess my autistic son got to the 2-month-year-old daughter and was fighting her and he damaged her pretty good. Her face is swollen, her nose is bleeding. I need help quick,” Beatty said in the call, according to documents.
“I stepped out in the hallway for a second with the other kids and he was in there by himself. Him and her. And he attacked her.”
When officers arrived, they found Beatty holding the severely injured and unresponsive baby. He told one officer he had been outside the apartment when he heard a thumping sound, and upon returning discovered the baby “on the f–king floor face down,” with his son clapping and smiling beside her, officials said.
“I know my son, he gets into something,” Beatty told police, according to the documents. He later added: “He beat that girl ass.”
Beatty described his son as “out of this world strong” and claimed the boy showed “negative behavior toward his siblings” because he believed his father loved them more, often hitting himself. When an officer asked the baby’s name, Beatty incorrectly called her “Maya” and admitted he did not know her birthdate because she was not his biological child — though he asserted that he was the “baby’s protector and the protector of the home,” records show.
A forensic pathologist determined the injuries were too severe to have been inflicted by a child. Khamyah suffered multiple fractures, a “flattened” nose bridge and other head trauma that contributed to her death just hours later.
The motive, prosecutors allege, was jealousy. Beatty was not the biological father of the twins; their mother had become pregnant with them during an affair while she and Beatty were still in a relationship. The two had since separated but were co-parenting her five children, authorities said. Beatty told investigators he was not “happy” and felt “bitter” about the situation.
The twins’ mother told police that Beatty had issued a chilling warning just days before the killing. She said he threatened her when she planned to leave the children with him to visit their incarcerated father.
“If you leave them b–ches here, them b–ches are going to be dead,” Beatty allegedly told her, according to her police interview.
“Mighty funny that you made that comment and I come back from the grocery store and my daughter dead,” she continued — though she also apparently denied that Beatty could have been responsible.
The family’s troubles had drawn concern long before the fatal beating. A relative of the twins’ father had spent two months attempting to get the city’s Child and Family Services Agency to check on the children due to safety concerns, court documents revealed. The four surviving children showed signs of neglect and unexplained injuries when investigators examined them.
Police described the home as filthy and deplorable, with pills and marijuana left in the open. Beatty admitted to using fentanyl in the days leading up to the murder. He also allegedly locked the twin girls in a closet because they were crying and smelled bad.
The baby’s death came just weeks after another catastrophic incident: Khamyah had fallen approximately 75 feet down an escalator after slipping from a car seat, an incident her mother allegedly tried to minimize, police said.
Beatty is also charged with first-degree cruelty to children and is due back in federal court in Washington, D.C.