Mom and Boyfriend Beat 6-Year-Old Son to Death, Then Claimed His Injuries Were from ‘Play Fights’

A mother and her boyfriend in Maryland have been arrested and are facing charges after allegedly beating her 6-year-old son to death because he took money from her wallet.

The Baltimore Police Department responded to a call around 11:30 p.m. on Wednesday about an unresponsive child, later identified as Brian Graham.

Paramedics rushed the boy to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. A medical examiner determined that Brian died from blunt force trauma.

Authorities arrested 34-year-old Jalesia Offer, the boy’s mother, and her boyfriend, Brandon Wheatley, same age, on charges of child abuse resulting in death and assault. According to charging documents, the abuse began earlier in the week when Brian took money from Offer’s wallet.

The documents state that Offer “smacked Brian and punched him with a closed fist multiple times” and that Wheatley continued the physical discipline afterward.

Offer told police that she believed some of Brian’s bruises might have come from play fighting with his brother. Wheatley also claimed that he “play fights” with Brian and that the boy bruises easily because of his light skin.

On the night of Brian’s death, Wheatley was giving the boy a bath. Offer said she walked by the bathroom and saw Wheatley slumped over on the floor, with Brian unresponsive in the tub filled with scalding hot water. She claimed she woke Wheatley up, and both of them retrieved Brian from the tub, applied burn cream and performed CPR until paramedics arrived.

Wheatley later told police that the last thing he remembered was Brian playing with the nozzles before he fell asleep. He claimed to have a medical condition that causes him to fall asleep while sitting down. The water temperature in the tub reportedly reached 128 degrees.

The medical examiner ruled Brian’s death a homicide, noting that he suffered a lacerated liver, multiple fractured ribs and internal bleeding in his head and torso.

Police also discovered that Brian’s 8-year-old brother had injuries to his face and was unable to move his left arm. Child Protective Services has taken custody of the boy. Baltimore Police Detective Nikki Fennoy said, “This is just an extremely tragic and sad story.”

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Offer and Wheatley, who are scheduled to appear in court on Monday, are currently being held in jail without bond.