NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- A toddler's guardian and her boyfriend have been arrested after the 3-year-old boy was killed and showed signs of horrific abuse, authorities said.
1010 WINS AUDIO: Sonia Rincon reports
The medical examiner's office ruled Kyle Smith's death a homicide Saturday, finding he had been beaten, spokeswoman Ellen Borakove said. The 28-pound boy had been bruised and battered over many parts of his body, she said.
Police found the boy's body Friday in the apartment he shared with his guardian and her boyfriend.
Police said the boy had a broken leg and appeared to have been burned and sodomized with an object before he died.
``The kid was really messed up,'' neighbor Greg Daniels, 22, told the Daily News. ``He was pale, and there were cigarette burns and bruises on his arms and back.''
The boy's legal guardian, Nymeen Cheatham, 30, and her boyfriend, Lemar Martin, 25, were arrested on assault charges, authorities said. Jonah Bruno, a spokesman for the district attorney's office, said the ongoing investigation would determine whether the charges would be upgraded. Martin also was arrested on a marijuana possession charge.
Cheatham and Martin remained in custody Saturday. Their lawyers' names were not immediately available, Bruno said.
A superintendent in the building, Gail McNally, told reporters the boy had arrived at the home about a year and a half ago, and was in Cheatham's care because his mother was a drug addict.
She said the boy appeared malnourished when he first came to the family, but had improved and had previously shown no outward signs of serious physical abuse.
``It broke my heart to see them pumping his chest and breathing for him on a respirator,'' McNally said. ``I was hoping to God he had a chance.''
Neighbors called Cheatham the boy's godmother, but a police spokesman said that description was incorrect.
(Photo of memorial outside Brooklyn apartment building from Sonia Rincon)
More Brooklyn news..
E-Mail Story
Print Story
