There is disturbing news to report tonight about the brutal death of a toddler at the hands of his stepfather. That stepfather is 25 year old Elijah Miller who is in lockdown at the Orange Walk Police Station awaiting charges for brutally beating to death 2 year old Ezekiel Tejeda. 7News has been following the story and here is a full report.
Keith Swift Reporting,
This is the yard in which 2 year old Ezekiel Tejada used to play and this bow hangs on the door of the house he lived in until Friday when he was cruelly beaten to the death – allegedly by his stepfather. His mother Felicia Tejada left Ezekiel in the care of Elijah Miller. She returned home and immediately knew something was wrong.
Felecia Tejeda, Mother
“When he put the baby on the sofa, the baby just slide right down from the sofa and I got frightened and I asked what is wrong with the baby and the baby was complaining that his stomach hurt him and thing and he was vomiting too and from then I told him I would take the baby to hospital and he told me why would I take the baby to the hospital. He said for us to buy an Alka Seltzer for the baby because maybe his stomach get bad.”
She then rushed little Ezekiel to the Orange Walk Hospital.
Felecia Tejeda,
“The doctor just touched his little tummy and that is it. He just checked the little boy’s tummy and checked him out and then when he was
done, he gave him an injection and after the injection, he said for us to wait half an hour outside and so we waited the half hour outside and about 2:10 we gone back into the emergency and he checked his heart, he didn’t put the thing on the little boy’s chest. All he did was put it on his shirt and then he wrote down a prescription for the medication for the baby and we went home with the baby. When we reached home I left the baby with him at the junction of the road and he said he will go home and mix the medicine for the baby. I told alright and I will go to my sister to pick up my other babies and at the same time I will pass by the granny and ask her to help me out to buy the medicine for the baby.”
And it was while out hunting for that medication that Felecia heard what happened to Ezekiel.
Felecia Tejeda,
“My two babies tell me that the boy hurt the baby the morning. They said the boy took the baby and fling him up and stoned him on the wall and shoved him with a pint bottle. The next baby they know and they said what he did the baby the morning. They said he threw him up and flung him on the wall and stoned him with a bottle.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Why?
Felecia Tejeda,
“I don’t know. That is the question I could never answer. Only my babies saw what he did to the baby. The only bruise I saw on him was on his chin right here and on his hand and on his knee and in his chest; that’s all.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
But when did you notice these bruises?
Felecia Tejeda,
“When we were going home I noticed it and I claimed to him and I asked him at hospital that if he did anything to my baby he would pay for what he
did and I asked him and he said nothing. He said all he did was bathe him after they finished eating the mango and he lashed them because they were giving trouble and he put them to sleep because when I came home I met them the sleep.”
Felecia rushed back home but by the time she got there, Elijah Miller had already rushed Ezekiel back to the hospital by then it was too late.
Felecia Tejeda,
“When I reached emergency I was asking the doctor where was my baby and they told me there were operating on him. That is all they told me and they didn’t want to inform me no more. When the doctor did come it was because they come tell me that my baby just dead.”
DC Jeffrey Williams, Orange Walk Town
“Police detained the common-law husband Elijah Miller and he is in police custody at this time pending investigation.”
Felecia Tejada and Elijah Miller had a tumultuous relationship with a history of violence – and today Felecia conceded there was a history of drug and physical abuse but still she stayed with him.
Felecia Tejeda,
“I mi suspect but I never could have said yes he would hurt the baby but he had times when he used to take the baby and swing him around and I used to tell him not to do the baby that because the baby didn’t like it. And the other time I suspected it was when I came to help my mommy in Belize City here for a sale and when I reached home I met the baby with bloodshot eyes and I asked him what happened to the baby and he said the baby dropped off of the guava tree and even my brother got frightened about and he told me because he had just gone over to the neighbour Mr. Gonzalez and when he came back he found the baby look bruised but I didn’t pay it no mind. I didn’t pay it no mind and so from that we just live on like that.”
Joel Armstrong, Chairman - Tower Hill Village
“There was some history but you know you cannot prove that because then you will always have to have proof of those things and only the mother will be able to give that answer. I know the little boy that died very good. I know his mother, I know his grandmother also and I was very worried because I said if things like that could happen to a little child like this then people would be very scared because then everybody probably in the village have a little child and they should have their freedom to run around and play and enjoy themselves in safetyness.”
Felecia Tejeda,
“He is easy to get angry. For everything for he gets angry.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Was he on drugs?
Felecia Tejeda,
“He used to take drugs.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Do you know if he had a mental condition?
Felecia Tejeda,
“Well he used to tell me that he had been to the crazy house already and that is what he told me but I didn’t believe him, I thought he was joking. I didn’t know it was true.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Why you decided to stay with him even though you had these strong suspicions that he was probably beating up on your son?
Felecia Tejeda,
“That is something that I can’t say right now. I noh got words to say it.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
Are you feeling guilty at this time?
Felecia Tejeda,
“In some ways yes because if I had stopped it then maybe that wouldn’t have happened to my baby.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
What you want?
Felecia Tejeda,
“I want justice. I want him to pay for what he did my baby because I don’t think its right. I don’t think its right for how he hurt my baby and he still has the heart to tell me that didn’t do anything to the baby.”
A post mortem conducted today certified that baby Ezekiel Tejeda received multiple bruises to his abdomen, bowel, and intestines. He died from lung complications caused by abdominal trauma.
