Overview
- Prosecutors say a grand jury returned a 12-count indictment on May 20 charging 19-year-old Kener Zepeda with multiple crimes including assault and battery on a child with serious bodily injury, reckless child endangerment, strangulation, suffocation, and two crimes of extreme violence against children.
- Investigators say Chelsea police found a nickel-sized burn on the 2-year-old after a March domestic-disturbance call that prosecutors allege was caused by a cigarette lighter.
- A bedroom camera installed by the 3-year-old’s mother allegedly recorded Zepeda on April 3 lifting the child high, throwing him onto a bed, punching him and pressing his hands over the child’s mouth and nose for about 19 seconds while the child struggled to breathe.
- Prosecutors say Zepeda fled after being confronted about the recording, was located hiding in woods in Loudoun County, Virginia, was arrested there last week, and was arraigned in Suffolk Superior Court on May 22 where he pleaded not guilty and was ordered held without bail.
- The case centers on physical evidence and video that prosecutors plan to use at a dangerousness hearing on May 28, and the charges could lead to long prison terms if convictions occur while investigators and child-welfare authorities continue to assess the children’s safety and care.