A Georgia couple is behind bars facing murder charges in the brutal beating death of their 1-year-old son.
A’Kym Henderson, 21, is accused of punching the baby repeatedly while the child’s mom, Jamie Howard looked away.
A Bibb County Sheriff’s Office news release, obtained by The Telegraph of Macon, states Howard, 20, was present during the beating but did not seek medical attention for the baby until after he fell unconscious.
“She chose to look away,” according to the Sheriff’s news release.
Henderson and Howard were arrested Friday after they brought their unresponsive son to the hospital. The infant was pronounced dead.
According to the arrest warrant, Howard said Henderson punched the boy repeatedly in the head. The punches resulted in multiple skull fractures, a swollen brain and bleeding inside the skull and scalp.
Howard initially “attempted to cover up this incident by initially stating she was only woken up by the victim struggling to breathe,” the warrant states.
Howard later changed her story and admitted she witnesses the beating and chose to do nothing to stop it.
A family friend told The Telegraph the couple doted on their son. Aaron Beaver told the newspaper the couple “put that baby on a pedestal” and they stopped going out at night when the baby was born.
Henderson and Howard are being held in the Bibb County jail without bond.
