A mother of an eight-year-old boy and her boyfriend have been arrested for the child’s gruesome murder in Texas, Fox News reported.
Leslie Curtis, 29, and her boyfriend Codie McCroy, 30, have been charged with Capital Murder, the Irving Police Department announced in an information release.
Please see the attached media release for the Capital Murder arrest of Codie McCrory and Leslie Curtis for the death of her son, Delmor Best-Curtis. pic.twitter.com/G0gD54kWLk
— Irving Police Dept. (@IrvingPD) January 11, 2021
Irving Police Department officers found the boy, Delmor Best-Curtis, lying “unresponsive” on a bed at the Magnuson Hotel on Friday after responding to an unconscious person call, the release says.
“Officers quickly observed bruising, cuts, burns and bite marks all over the victim’s body,” an affidavit said, according to Fox News. “The victim had blood on his head, facial swelling and an obviously broken arm,” the obtained affidavit added.
Authorities say the mother and McCroy, who have been in a relationship for less than a year, abused the boy for at least ten days before he was found, the release said. Authorities said the couple was living in the hotel where the boy was found, and the boy was not attending school, according to the information release. (RELATED: Man Who Illegally Sold AR-15 To Mass Shooter Sentenced To 2 Years In Prison)
Irving Police Officer Robert Reeves said that authorities could “tell he was choked before because there were fingernail marks around the neck,” according to Fox 4 KDFW Dallas-Fort Worth. Reeves added that some of the details “are so graphic, it’s kind of disgusting to even talk about them,” according to Fox 4.
Reeves told reporters that McCroy had pushed the boy twice, causing him to hit his head on both occasions, knocking him unconscious, Fox 4 reported. McCropy then tried to wake the boy up by placing him in the shower, but the attempts were “unsuccessful,” Reeves said, according to Fox 4.
In the affidavit obtained by Fox News, the mother said she had witnessed McCroy “kick the victim in the head on more than one occasion.” The mother, described as having “a black right eye and significant bruising to the left side of her face” accused McCroy of abusing her as well, according to Fox News.
“There are evil people in this world,” Reeves said, according to Fox 4 KDFW Dallas-Forth Worth. “And this is some of the side effects of them being around children of what happens,” the officer added.