While his parents served in the U.S. military safeguarding Iraq, 4-year-old Cameron Smith was cooped up in a modest apartment in Calumet City, slowly being beaten to death, police said Friday.
The boy was discovered lifeless in his bed Thursday morning after enduring two days of being punched in the head, stomach, chest and back and being whipped with a belt by a man who was supposed to be caring for him, Calumet City Police Chief Patrick O’Meara said.
Authorities Friday charged Donell Parker, 23, who was left in charge of the boy and his two siblings with first-degree murder, O’Meara said.
Parker was the live-in boyfriend of Cameron’s mother, who had separated from the boy’s father, O’Meara said. Police said they didn’t know why Parker started beating the boy but said the whippings started Tuesday night and continued until the boy was discovered dead early Thursday. Parker had been caring for the boy for two weeks, O’Meara said.
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“When a grown adult takes out his or her aggressions or inabilities to deal with a young child … on a 4-year-old … that’s unconscionable,” O’Meara said.
Cameron’s parents, Lavada Smith and Gary Smith Jr., were contacted in Iraq through the Red Cross, and both were trying to get back home, he said.
After Cameron’s body was discovered bruised and battered, his two older siblings, 7 and 8, were placed in the care of their maternal grandparents Thursday, O’Meara said.
But word of Cameron’s death did not reach his paternal grandfather in Montgomery, Ala., and grandmother in Columbus, Ga., until Friday.
“Oh my God, my baby’s dead! Oh, Lord!” a distraught Gary Smith Sr. said by phone after learning of his grandson’s death from a reporter.
“It hurts. It hurts. It hurts — and what can we do?” said Sherry Smith in Georgia. “I just can’t believe the baby was beat to death. It hurts me because we weren’t there to protect him.”
Police learned about the boy’s death at 5 a.m. Thursday when they were called to the apartment in the 500 block of Ingraham Avenue.
Because Cameron’s body was so bruised, they took Parker into custody four hours later while they investigated the death, O’Meara said. When the Cook County medical examiner’s office ruled Cameron’s death a homicide Friday, saying he suffered multiple injuries and died of blunt force trauma, police charged Parker. He is scheduled to appear in Bond Court on Saturday in Markham, O’Meara said.
“It was evident to us … from the extensive bruises on the boy’s body … that the death was suspicious,” he said.
O’Meara said Parker gave a videotaped confession admitting to beating the boy. But Parker could not or would not give a reason, the chief said, adding that Parker was unemotional and just laid out the facts.
Parker was unemployed and had one previous arrest for assault, police said. Efforts to reach his family were unsuccessful Friday.
“Lavada thought she was leaving [Cameron] with a caregiver,” O’Meara said. “It was the violation of that trust that resulted in his death.”
O’Meara said it did not appear that Cameron’s two siblings had been abused, but he wouldn’t say if they witnessed the beatings. He said the children came to the station and seemed in good condition as they played and colored and were counseled by personnel.
The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services also is investigating the case. The agency had no prior contact with the family, officials said.
Cameron’s mother, Sgt. Lavada Smith, 28, was ordered to active duty by the Army National Guard in April, officials said. Smith’s unit is based in Bloomington, and she is assigned to the 33rd Military Police Battalion in Iraq, said Lt. Col. Alicia Tate-Nadeau, director of public affairs for the Illinois National Guard.
Smith was called up as a replacement in the military police unit, Tate-Nadeau said. She reported to Bloomington on May 10 and was sent to Ft. Benning, Ga., May 12.
She had been in Iraq for only about 10 hours when she learned of her son’s death, Tate-Nadeau said.
“Our hearts go out to Sgt. Smith during this very difficult time,” she said. “Guard family is and will continue to be there for her.”
Tate-Nadeau said the Guard requires enlistees with children to have a family-care plan in case they are called to active duty. And evidently Smith had one when she enlisted, Tate-Nadeau said.
Lavada Smith and Parker had been together since last year, O’Meara said.
Smith’s two older children, a 7-year-old girl and an 8-year-old boy, attended Woodrow Wilson School, and Cameron was enrolled at a preschool in Harvey. The family had recently moved into the apartment on Ingraham Avenue, he said.
Cameron’s father, Gary Smith Jr., 27, was deployed with the Army to Iraq in August, Sherry Smith said.
Lavada and Gary Smith Jr. had been married for eight years, and for most of that time, they were both involved in the military, she said.
Gary Smith Jr. last returned home in January for a short visit, his mother said. At that time, the couple gave no indication that their marriage was in trouble or that they were separated, Gary Smith Sr. said.
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“I didn’t even know she had a boyfriend,” he said. “This is the first I’m hearing all this.”
Earlier this month, Sherry Smith said she learned from Lavada that she was being called to serve in Iraq. She also found out through an e-mail from her son that he hadn’t spoken to his children by phone since January.
Sherry Smith said she connected with Lavada when she arrived in Georgia. At that time, Lavada gave her an updated photo of her grandchildren and told her that an older uncle and his wife would care for the children while she was away. She never mentioned Parker.
On Friday, the grandparents were scrambling to connect with Lavada Smith’s relatives in the Chicago region, Sherry Smith said.
“I’m praying for the kids,” Sherry Smith said. “I love those kids, and I’m concerned. I’m praying we all get through this.”
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