Editor’s Note: This story contains discussions of child abuse that may be disturbing. Reader discretion is advised. If you suspect a child is being abused, find out how to report it in your state here. To connect with a counselor, you can call the National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4253.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WREG) — A woman in Tennessee is accused of torturing and beating to death a three-year-old boy in her care.
Dominica Mosby, 29, the girlfriend of the child’s father, was booked in the Shelby County Jail on Sunday on charges of first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect.
Police said they were called to the home when the boy’s father found the toddler unresponsive on a bed. Kevin Horton, 3, was pronounced dead on the scene.
Mosby initially told officers the child was not feeling well when he arrived and was vomiting before she put him down to rest.
Homicide investigators said she later admitted to putting out a cigarette in the boy’s ear, causing him to urinate on the floor. She said that was when she put a lighter under his genitals to burn him.
According to court records, she also admitted to stomping on the child’s stomach with the heel of her boot and hitting the toddler on the torso and chest with a closed and open hand because he would not lie down.
The medical examiner ruled the boy’s death a homicide and said Horton suffered a lacerated liver, bleeding in the abdomen, bruising to his torso and burns to his ear and genitals.
The victim’s aunt told investigators her nephew comes to her house several days at a time, and she had noticed injuries on him that were not consistent with regular rough play.
She said that in the past, the boy had an injury to his lip, a bruise on his right cheek, and a scratch on his left cheek.
Mosby is scheduled to be arraigned on Tuesday.