Child goes missing, found safe, then beaten to death Gary IN -Father&GF arrested

[Nut44x4]

Two arrested for brutal beating of 5-year-old boy
April 30, 2010 1:47 PM | No Comments
Two people are in custody today for the brutal beating death of a 5-year-old boy in Gary.

The Northwest Indiana Times is reporting that murder and neglect charges are expected to be filed against the man and woman.

Leon D. Walker's body bore up to 40 marks of violence, some of them old, according to Gary police Sgt. William Fazekas, supervisor of the Violent Crimes Unit and lead investigator in the case.

"You could clearly see that he was beaten to a pulp," Fazekas said.
The boy was dead when he arrived at Methodist Hospital's Northlake Campus in Gary Wednesday night. Police were at the hospital interviewing a gunshot victim when the boy was brought into the emergency room on a stretcher with his clothes cut open,  Fazekas said.

The boy's father and girlfriend arrived at the hospital a short time later, he said.

His death was caused by trauma to the body so severe it shocked even longtime law enforcement officials. "What happened to that boy is incomprehensible," the coroner's spokesman said.

Four other children were taken from the Virginia Street home by Child Protective Services, Fazekas said. Their ages ranged from 1 to 13, he said.

Leon had been reported missing from his house on Sunday but was found in an abandoned building and returned home, Fazekas said.

"They reported him missing, but there was no sign of wrong play at that time," Fazekas said.
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/04/two-arrested-for-brutal-beating-of-5-year-old-boy.html

[Nut44x4]

Friday, April 30, 2010
NEWS: (National) Boy, 5, beaten to death: 'Worst thing I've ever seen'
From Chicago Sun-Times

BY LORY CALDWELL Post-Tribune
The fatal beating of a 5-year-old Gary boy left veteran investigators shaken after they saw deep, dark scars from the back of his head to his knees.

Leon Walker's injuries were inflicted by someone who beat him repeatedly over time, police said.

"It's the worst thing I've ever seen," Gary Police Cmdr. Thomas Decanter Jr. said Thursday.

Investigators are now trying to figure out who did it. The boy's mother was questioned and released.

His father was in custody Thursday night, being questioned. According to a police report, the father told them the boy had complained of a stomachache and told him, "I think I got a boo boo." The father told police he left the room to get Leon something to eat from the kitchen, and then returned to find him unconscious on the ground.

But investigators say they found items at the home that suggest the boy was restrained while he was struck with an object, perhaps a belt.

Leon was to turn 6 on Monday.

http://www.dukesblotter.com/2010/04/news-national-boy-5-beaten-to-death.html

[Nut44x4]

LEON WALKER - 5 yo - Gary IN
 by TomTerrific0420 Yesterday at 7:47 am

Investigators say a boy was bound, tortured, and beaten to death inside a
home in Gary. He would have turned 6 years old Monday.
The child's death has been ruled a homicide. Gary police
were questioning people in connection with the boy's death Thursday
evening. Leon Walker, the 5-year-old victim, would have turned 6
years old Monday, but given how it appears his life was going, there is
no evidence anyone was planning a party. Neighbors-- who were
called to his house Wednesday night-- said he was dead long before he
was taken to the hospital, a victim of neglect, abuse and worse. In
hardscrabble Gary, the neighborhood is one where even those who say
they have seen it all tread warily. One neighbor who did not want to be
identified reportedly had Leon and his family over for Easter Sunday
dinner. "It is a tragedy. It is terrible because I went over
there, and he was just laying there with his eyes open, and he was dead.
I knew he was dead when I walked in the house," the neighbor said. The
disturbance was only the latest on Virginia Avenue. Last Saturday, Gary
police were called when 5-year-old Leon went missing. He was found at 2
a.m. hiding under blankets upstairs in the abandoned house next door to
his. "You have to ask yourself, 'What would make a child run
away from home to an abandoned house?'" neighbor Harold Wallace said. The coroner and the police say when an unconscious Leon was brought to
the hospital, he was covered in scars, including ligature marks on his
arms. "From what we could see, [it] looked like he was
tortured. He was beaten from head to toe," said Sgt. William Fazekas,
who was there on another matter. "In 21 years of doing this, it was
the worst I have ever seen -- for any human being." Leon Walker
lived with his father Leon Burns, his girlfriend Rochelle and her four
children. The adults are being questioned by police. "It looked
like something out of --I can't even describe it--something out of a
concentration camp," said Fazekas. "Someday, when the public is able to
review those pictures, when they are available, they are going to be
outraged." Gary police say they continue their investigation,
and they say they are confident they will be able to bring first-degree
murder charges in the case. The victim's mother, who is in rehab
for drug dependency, was told of her son's death.
http://justice4caylee.forumotion.net/murdered-children-f38/leon-walker-5-yo-gary-in-t6140.htm

[cookie]

this is horrible...a child who is turning 6...ran away..in an abandoned building..children are usually scared of the dark...but this child would rather have been scared there all alone than scared in his own home...I am sick over this...This child tried to run away from his abusers and was returned to them...they probably beat him to death because he had run away..
I don't know how many more of these stories that I can hear about ....it just gets worse and worse...Some of my friends will not even read the papers or listen to the news because of all the horrible stories about child abuse..I think that they are hiding their heads in the sand...now I wonder if they are not better off not knowing all of the evil happening to our children....I don't know anymore...  

[Tracygirl]

Oh gosh this story leaves me sick and without words. The people that did this to this poor child need to be hung.

RIP sweet boy. I am so very sorry this happened to you. you deserved to be loved and cherished for the wondeful little boy I bet you were. At least now you are safe in heaven above with a loving God. You will not feel pain or fear again.