Man charged with beating 2-year-old boy to death in Gary, Indiana

GARY, Ind. (CBS) — Police in Gary, Indiana arrested a man this week on charges that he beat a 2-year-old boy to death.
As detailed in a probable cause affidavit by Gary police Detective Gary Runde, officers were called Monday to a home in the 300 block of Arthur Street in Gary for a report that the toddler, identified as Je’Loni Smith, had drowned in the bathtub.
But Runde wrote that he reviewed a report from a forensic pathologist at the Lake County, Indiana Coroner’s office, which found that Je’Loni had been beaten to death. Je’Loni had suffered contusions and abrasions all around his body, and internal lacerations to his liver and an adrenal gland, the affidavit said.
Another detective reported that upon arriving at the house on Arthur Street, he had found 9 inches of water in the bathtub—but the floor around the bathtub was dry, the affidavit said. A responding officer said Ricky Larkin—who had been dating Je’Loni’s mother—was found with the toddler and told the officer Je’Loni had drowned in the bathtub.
The officer also said a dried brown stain with small chunks in it had been found on the bed in a bedroom, and a small, below-standard aluminum baseball bat had been placed “conspicuously” next to the bed, the affidavit said.
Runde wrote that he also spoke to Je’Loni’s mother, who told him Larkin comes and goes from the house and was not Je’Loni’s father, the affidavit said. The mother also said Larkin was an “abusive person” and treated Je’Loni differently than her other children. She also said Larkin does not feed or bathe the children, the affidavit said.
Runde also talked with Larkin himself, who said he had lived at the Arthur Street house with Smith for eight months. He said Je’Loni’s mother had been taken to the hospital the day before the toddler died, and claimed to have made the kids food waiting for another woman who was supposed to be coming over to watch the kids, the affidavit said.
Larkin said before this woman was to arrive, he got Je’Loni out of his diaper and put him in the bathtub, the affidavit said. Larkin said he went to take a phone call outside the bathroom, and when he returned, Je’Loni was lying sideways, the affidavit said.
Larkin told Runde he performed CPR on Je’Loni and called 911, the affidavit said. He said he had only stepped out of the bathroom earlier for two or three minutes at most before returning, and he said the water was off and the tub only halfway full when he stepped out, the affidavit said.
“I asked him if he beat or disciplined anyone for peeing or vomiting in the bed, and he appeared to get agitated and said he doesn’t hit kids,” Runde wrote in the affidavit. “He stated he was the only adult in the house with Je’Loni and that Je’Loni had no bruising or injuries prior to his death. I asked him why there was extensive bruising on him, and he claimed Je’Loni had to have slipped and fallen over and hurt himself while in the tub. I told him that the injuries I observed were not consistent with a toddler falling in a bathtub half-filled with water, and he advised that he is not a child abuser.”
Larkin agreed that the injury Je’Loni had suffered was consistent with the toddler being struck or punched in the face and not from a bathtub full of water, but he still denied hitting Je’Loni and said the boy had never suffered a head injury under his supervision, the affidavit said.
Larkin also told Runde that he had done a lot of “dirt” in his life, and called the incident with Je’Loni karma, the affidavit said. Larkin also said he was not high on drugs when Je’Loni died, and asked to review the autopsy reports, the affidavit said.
On Tuesday, Larkin made a call to a woman where he said he was, in fact, high on drugs at the time of the incident, the affidavit said.
Murder charges were filed against Larkin on Wednesday.