Woman held in brutal death of 4-year-old boy

The woman who called police Wednesday to report the disappearance of her cousin's 4-year-old son was arrested Sunday morning after the child's badly beaten body was found in her Minneapolis residence.

Demond Reed was dead before police arrived at the woman's duplex at 3118 Morgan Av. N. in response to her 911 call Wednesday claiming that he had been abducted, said Lt. Amelia Huffman, head of the homicide unit.

"The information that led to the suspect's arrest was a statement from a witness that she hit the child several times, the child became ill and subsequently died," she said.

An autopsy is scheduled for today to determine an exact cause of death. But police are treating the case as a homicide.

On Sunday, police would reveal few details of a case that had neighbors and authorities shaken by its brutality.

It's unclear how long Demond had been dead before Wednesday's 911 call. Huffman said that when police arrived, they spoke with the suspect, a 37-year-old woman originally from Chicago who is a cousin of Demond's father, Tony Reed. Last week, the suspect was quoted on KARE-11 TV as saying Demond was "sweet" and that his disappearance was "tearing me apart."

At that time, police were told that the boy had been abducted by a family acquaintance while with a baby sitter at the Morgan Avenue N. home.

In an interview on Sunday, the boy's paternal grandmother, Charmon Brown, said that when her son's girlfriend went to pick up Demond on Wednesday evening, the suspect said the child had been taken by a woman named Shawna Williams. The name turned out to be made up, Brown said.

The grandmother said she still was in disbelief that her cousin was questioned by police about Demond's disappearance.

"She asked me to pray for her. She said 'Pray for me because they want to arrest me and take my children,'" Brown said. "I felt in my stomach that something wasn't right. But I prayed for her."

Huffman said police pursued the abduction lead but also looked for other possible causes.

Search went on for days

On Wednesday, a yard-to-yard search was conducted. On Friday, police searched the building, and police dogs failed to find a scent trail in an area search. On Saturday, authorities went door-to-door with Demond's picture, searching yards and garages. Community groups distributed hundreds of fliers, and Demond's picture and story were prominently featured by news media. For days, a police squad car stationed itself in front of the Morgan Avenue N. home.

Late Saturday, a second building search was conducted, and after midnight, Demond's body was found. Police refused to say how or where in the building they found him.

No Amber Alert was issued, authorities said, because there was no description of the alleged abductor's car and because the disappearance already was getting media coverage.

"Since the case came in, every investigator who has worked on it has dreaded the possibility that Demond would be our first homicide victim of the year," Huffman said. "I think everyone who's worked on the case ... has been deeply affected by this terribly sad incident."

Brown found out about her grandson's death while en route to Minneapolis from her home in suburban Chicago. The boy's mother and other relatives also came from the Chicago area.

"They told me it was good news; then they told me he was dead," Brown said. "[The suspect] hurt him so bad. We don't know what happened. We just know he was unable to be identified."

Police requested dental records to help in officially identifying him, she said.

A sweet, quiet boy

She described her grandson as a sweet, quiet boy who loved to play with toy cars and would sing at her request. He called her "Nana Frenchie," she said, and loved the song, "Na Na Na, Goodbye."

Rehalle Barksdale, who lived downstairs from the suspect, described her as an emotional wreck Wednesday. The suspect told Barksdale that on Wednesday she was at a hospital with her own 4-year-old son, who had pneumonia, and returned to find Demond missing, a tearful Barksdale recalled Sunday afternoon.

"She told me she hadn't had any sleep lately," said Barksdale. "It's just shocking. It's unbelievable."

The suspect is a single mother of four children, ages 4 to 11, Barksdale said.

Demond was no stranger to the suspect's home, having spent some time there this past summer, according to police, family members and neighbors. The boy's father, Tony Reed, is related to the suspect. Father and son came to Minneapolis to visit family members around Christmas time, police said.

But Tony Reed had been arrested recently on charges that could not be determined Sunday, and sent to the Hennepin County workhouse, leaving the boy without parents in Minneapolis.

Community activist Ron Edwards said the family is "traumatized by this entire tragedy."

Kenneth Poole, the suspect's uncle, said her family is also shocked by the news, which spread rapidly Sunday among relatives in Chicago.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "[Her relatives] can't stop crying. It's just terrible right now."

He said the suspect eventually led authorities to the boy's body.

Said Charmon Brown, Demond's grandmother: "To be hurtful to this fragile little boy. ... She was 37 years old, and he was a fragile little boy. She didn't hurt her kids."

Clutching an outfit she had planned to dress her grandson in before bringing him back to Chicago, Brown looked down at the only two photos she had of him -- the same photos disseminated by authorities in the four-day hunt. She squeezed her eyes shut and tears ran down her cheeks. The tiny T-shirt, emblazoned with a helicopter and the word "Rescue," was sadly ironic, she said. He will now wear the shirt under his burial suit.

"He was my only grandbaby, and now I have none because of what my cousin did," she said. "It's unbelievable."

Brown said the family remains hurt, confused and conflicted by the familial ties that bind the victim, suspect and their loved ones.

"It's very upsetting for all of us," she said. "We don't take sides because we're family."

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