Dad beat a 2-month-old to death in jealous rage then tried to blame autistic son, prosecutors say
Por Jasmine Fernández — – World RSS Feed
Dad beat a 2-month-old to death in jealous rage then tried to blame autistic son, prosecutors say
Investigators say Demetrius Beatty gave police three conflicting explanations for the infant’s fatal injuries, claiming at various points that another child tossed the baby or that he was in the hallway during the incident
Jasmine Fernández in Portland Friday 18 September 2026 12:18 EDT
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A 40-year-old Washington, D.C., man fatally beat a two-month-old girl in a jealous rage before attempting to blame the injuries on his six-year-old autistic son, prosecutors allege.
Demetrius Beatty faces murder charges in the death of two-month-old Khamyah Honesty. According to court records cited by CBS affiliate WUSA9, police were called to an apartment building on New Jersey Avenue in Southeast Washington around 9:45 p.m. on August 16, where they found Beatty holding the unresponsive infant.
The baby was found unconscious with facial bruising, head trauma and bleeding in her eyes. She was pronounced dead at Children’s National Hospital early the following morning.
A forensic pathologist found that Khamyah suffered severe fractures to her forehead, the back of her head and beneath her chin, confirming the injuries were non-accidental and could not have been inflicted by a young child, WUSA9 reported.
Prosecutors argued that Beatty killed the infant — who was born eight weeks premature and was a twin — out of resentment because the children were fathered by another man while Beatty and the mother were in a relationship.
open image in galleryCourt documents indicate that Beatty had threatened the mother eight days prior to the incident, warning that he would kill the children if she left them with him. The mother testified that Beatty made similar death threats when she went to visit the twins’ biological father, who is currently incarcerated.
During a 911 call placed from a neighbor’s phone, Beatty attempted to blame his nonverbal, six-year-old autistic son, telling dispatchers: “I have an autistic son, and I have a 2-month-old daughter. I guess my autistic son got to the 2-month-old daughter and was fighting her, and he damaged her pretty good.”
Beatty added, “Her face is swollen, her nose is bleeding. I need help quick.”
When police and social workers questioned Beatty, he was unable to remember or spell Khamyah’s name, initially calling her “Maya,” court documents show.
Investigators noted that Beatty offered shifting accounts to police, claiming at various points that he was in the hallway making a call, that another seven-year-old child had “tossed” the baby, or that he was playing ball with the children when the injury occurred.
Beatty was arrested on September 16, a month after the infant’s death, before making his initial court appearance the following day.
Defense attorneys pushed for Beatty’s release under 24-hour home confinement, noting that he called 911 immediately and had raised the children as his own without prior history of physical abuse against them. The defense also pointed to the six-year-old’s history of behavioral issues, noting the mother’s statements that the boy possessed significant physical strength.
However, the judge denied pretrial release, pointing to Beatty’s prior probation revocation, which had resulted in a 45-day jail sentence.
The living conditions inside the apartment were described by Metropolitan Police Department officers as “filthy and cluttered,” with stained walls, piles of laundry and burnt aluminum foil floating in a toilet. First responders stated that the surviving twin suffered from severe diaper rash, while another one-year-old child in the home had a healing burn on her back.
Concerns regarding the welfare of the children had been raised prior to the fatal incident. Court records show that a relative of the twins’ father had contacted the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency multiple times over the preceding two months. In one instance, Beatty allegedly locked the infant twins inside a closet.
Additionally, medical staff disputed the mother’s account of a prior incident at the Congress Heights Metro Station 16 days before Khamyah’s death, during which the infant reportedly fell roughly 75 feet down an escalator after slipping from a car seat.
Following Beatty’s arrest, the D.C. Child and Family Services Agency took custody of the four surviving children present in the home. Beatty is scheduled to appear back in court on September 28.
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