Mom, Boyfriend Charged in Death of 8-Year-Old Autistic Boy in the Bronx

Eight-year-old Joseph Barney’s life was already slipping away final June when his mom and her boyfriend introduced him to an emergency room within the Bronx, involved, they stated, that he felt cool to the contact.

The boy arrived at Montefiore Medical Middle unconscious and unresponsive, with no outward indicators of significant harm. However, 24 minutes later, he was pronounced useless by medical doctors who shortly summoned the police.

On Monday, 9 months after the hospital go to, the boy’s mom, Sharay Barney, and her boyfriend, Michael Ransom, have been arrested on homicide expenses after town health worker dominated Joseph’s June 1 dying a murder. They stated it was brought on by a mixture of previous and new accidents, a situation known as battered baby syndrome.

Ms. Barney, 29, and Mr. Ransom, 33, have been booked on homicide and manslaughter expenses and have been awaiting arraignment on Tuesday night time in legal court docket. They may not be reached for remark as a result of they have been in custody, and details about their protection attorneys was not instantly obtainable.

No clarification of why the authorities believed that Ms. Barney and Mr. Ransom brought about Joseph’s dying was made obtainable on Tuesday night, nor have been any particulars shared about their respective roles within the alleged crime.

However a routine state evaluation carried out after Joseph’s dying famous that the circumstances have been “considerably suspicious.” The boy suffered hemorrhaging on his mind and optical nerve, a bruise on the scalp and small cuts on his face and mouth, based on the report. He additionally had a chipped tooth and was severely underweight. However there have been no arrests on the time, based on the report, as a result of the post-mortem had not been accomplished.

The report, which state legislation requires the Workplace of Youngsters and Household Providers to finish when youngsters who’ve been abused die, additionally stated Ms. Barney gave inconsistent statements throughout interviews with investigators and had deliberate what she would say to the authorities over textual content messages with Mr. Ransom.

Stephanie Gendell, a spokeswoman for the Administration for Youngsters’s Providers, stated the company launched a joint investigation with the police “instantly” after the company was made conscious of the household. She didn’t say how or when that occurred.

The company stated that state legislation prohibits officers from disclosing details about particular person instances. Nevertheless, the legislation makes some exceptions that permit companies to share extra particulars, together with in instances by which a baby has died.

Desmond Lengthy, Joseph’s organic father, stated in an e-mail that he was relieved to listen to in regards to the arrests. “They have been nonetheless collectively after what they’ve carried out to Joseph,” he stated.

Joseph’s dying final June preceded an uncommon string of deaths over the summer season of younger youngsters who had been the topic of abuse warnings to child-welfare authorities and the police. The state report stated his household had no open instances with child-welfare authorities on the time of his dying.

Based on the report, Ms. Barney initially advised the authorities that she left house at 7 a.m. to go to work. Earlier than leaving, she stated she had fed her son a dietary complement, however he was not feeling properly and vomited.

When she returned at about 12:20 p.m., she stated, Joseph felt cool to the contact, so she dressed him and known as a taxi. The journey to the hospital took greater than an hour, and Joseph was pronounced useless at 2:04 p.m.

Investigators decided that Ms. Barney and Mr. Ransom have been seen leaving the house collectively at 7:38 a.m. He returned minutes later and didn’t go away once more till he carried the boy to the taxi. They advised investigators that they thought it could be sooner than an ambulance, however the journey took 80 minutes, based on the report.

Neighbors who have been interviewed by child-welfare caseworkers expressed no main considerations in regards to the boy’s care, however stated they typically heard some “gentle banging” coming from the residence, the report stated.

Joseph was recognized with autism, and the college he attended advised the authorities that he had not returned after the household moved. College officers stated they’d left a number of messages requesting that his mom switch companies, assuming he had modified colleges.

Ms. Barney later turned uncooperative with the authorities, and Mr. Ransom by no means made himself obtainable for an interview, based on the state report.

The New York Submit additionally reported that Joseph had been taken to the hospital a number of instances with indicators of attainable abuse.

State legislation requires the hospital to report their suspicions to the state child-abuse registry and for the native child-welfare company to observe up. However officers invoked confidentiality legislation on Tuesday in response to questions on whether or not these steps have been taken.

Mr. Ransom has a prolonged historical past of arrests — most of it sealed — and he has been named in home incident studies stretching again to his childhood, legislation enforcement officers stated. The latest report, from April 2020, stated that he had hit a pregnant 22-year-old lady.

He has three youngsters who don’t dwell with him, however officers stated there have been no earlier indicators that he had abused any of them. He was named because the sufferer in a few of the home studies that point out him, and none of them seem to contain Joseph or Ms. Barney, who has no prior arrests and was named as a sufferer in three unrelated home incident studies, the officers stated.

Mr. Lengthy, 32, stated his son couldn’t talk verbally however he had observed suspicious bruises on the boy’s physique and brought photos and movies of them. “They advised me on the telephone that he bought damage from taking part in too onerous within the park,” stated Mr. Lengthy. “I knew it was a lie.”

Joseph, he stated, was a playful and humorous baby who liked to eat pizza and watch movies of subway trains. “He would dance to totally different songs,” Mr. Lengthy added. “He liked monkeys, which was his favourite animal. He at all times smiled and wished to eat sweet, ice cream, fruit snacks, Capri Suns.”

The final time he noticed Joseph was on April 3, two months earlier than he died. “They saved him away from me,” stated Mr. Lengthy.

“I didn’t know their handle or any data about them,” he added. “Any time Joseph was about to return house to them, he would cry lots and get very unhappy.”

There was no reply on the door to the couple’s residence in Morrisania, and neighbors on the brick duplex in Williamsbridge the place they lived when Joseph died, stated they barely noticed Ms. Barney and Mr. Ransom throughout the brief time they have been round.

Frank Rue, 74, stated he didn’t know the couple had a baby within the house till the police confirmed up on the block final summer season.

“They have been a thriller,” he stated. “I didn’t know them. No person knew them. No person knew they’d a baby inside there. It was stunning. Couldn’t consider it.”

Chelsia Rose Marcius contributed reporting. Susan C. Beachy contributed analysis.