Glendale police have arrested a Glendale mother and her boyfriend in the death of her 2-year-old son.
Leilah Lopez and Johnny Brazell II, both 20, have been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse in the death of the child.
On Tuesday, Glendale police responded to a 911 call to an apartment near 60th Avenue and Golden Lane around 10 a.m. with reports that a child wasn’t breathing and had no pulse.
Emergency responders arrived to the home and attempted life-saving measures. The 2-year-old boy was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Police report that physicians who treated the child found numerous bruises, swelling and a skull fracture with what they believe to be consistent with child abuse.
During the initial interview, Brazell told police the child had been attacked by a dog. However, surveillance video in the area did not match up with the dog attack story. He later admitted that he had in fact hit the boy multiple times with a leather belt all while dangling him in the air by his leg after the boy would not stop tampering with a window screen.
Police say Brazell admitted to dropping the boy on his head on a hardwood floor and swinging his body into furniture and other objects. Brazell demonstrated how he would brutally swing the boy’s head into a chair, reporting to officers that the force was stronger than the demonstrated use of a doll prop.
An arrest report detailed that detectives found blood stains in the boy’s bedroom. The child’s mother Leila Lopez reportedly told police that the toddler had been disciplined in the past.
The investigation details that Brazell left the home to take another child to a doctor’s appointment. During that time, Lopez did not attempt to help her child or call 911, even though she admitted the child was struggling to breathe. Reportedly the two waited for the boy to stop breathing. A call was placed to 911 two hours after he died, after they allegedly agreed to lie to police, the paramedics, and the hospital officials about the true cause of the death. The two concocted the story that a dog attack, which police believe they fabricated the story together.
According to police, in an interview room, Brazell said to the boy’s mother, that “the story we talked about didn’t work.” Police reported that neither suspect showed remorse after their arrest. Reportedly, neither suspect has a prior criminal history.
The suspects were planning to leave the state for California following the incident.
The Department of Child Safety has taken two other children, identified as a 2-week-old and a 2-year-old, from the home. Authorities believed one of those children is fathered by Brazell. Neither of the children removed from the home had any injuries.
