Keith Donald, 27, a Cook County sheriff’s deputy, allegedly beat his 3-year-old stepson to death because the child was splashing too much in the bathtub.
Sammy Reyes, also 27, is accused of shaking his 8-week-old daughter because she wouldn’t stop crying as he watched an NBA playoff game on TV. That child remained on life support Tuesday evening.
Earlier in the day, the men appeared in separate court hearings on charges of abusing the children over the weekend, and each was ordered held on $100,000 bond.
Donald, a courtroom deputy in the Markham District who has worked for the sheriff’s department for 2 1/2 years, was charged with murder in the fatal beating of his stepson, Jamal Cheatam, in their home in the 1300 block of West Greenleaf Avenue.
The boy was fatally injured in the family’s home Saturday night after Donald’s wife, Phyllis, went out with a friend at 9:30 p.m.
Donald became angry while giving Jamal and his 2-year-old son a bath because the boys were splashing too much, said Cook County Assistant State’s Atty. Elissa Rhee-Lee. He told police that he pulled the 2-year-old out of the water, dried him off and locked him in a closet for a “time out,” Rhee-Lee said.
According to investigators, Donald allegedly followed Jamal to a bedroom, hitting him four or five times on the back of the head and knocking him into a bedpost.
Jamal was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Saturday at St. Francis Hospital in Evanston. He was the 35th child under the age of 15 to become a homicide victim in the Chicago area this year.
Donald allegedly admitted to police that he had struck Jamal on previous occasions and had choked the boy on Saturday morning for refusing to finish his cereal, Rhee-Lee said. Donald also reportedly told police that he locked his 2-year-old son in a closet on a daily basis for “timeouts” that lasted for an hour or an hour and a half, she said.
No charges were filed against Phyllis Donald, but the other three children in the home, including a 1-year-old boy, were placed in the temporary custody of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, a DCFS spokesman said. The spokesman said the agency had no previous contact with the family.
On Sunday, police said, Sammy Reyes, who is unemployed, was watching his daughter, Lydia, in their Logan Square apartment in the 2700 block of North Kimball Avenue, while his wife worked. Grand Central Area Cmdr. Philip Cline said the infant had been fussy most of the day and into the evening.
Cline said Reyes apparently became so enraged when the infant wouldn’t stop crying that he shook her violently and threw her into a child seat.
Lydia was later taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center where she was in critical condition. Tuesday evening.
Reyes was taken into custody Sunday night and charged late Monday with aggravated battery to a child.