A Des Moines man accused of killing a 15-month-old boy left in his care has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the case.
Court documents filed Monday in a Polk County court showed 28-year-old Brandon Greenup entered a plea of not guilty in the June death of Tremir Matthews. Officers were called after family members of the boy took his lifeless body to a hospital.
Police say they learned that the toddler had been left in Greenup’s care the night before while his mother was at work. Police say that’s when the boy was injured, and that Greenup knew the child was unable to breathe but failed to seek medical help for him.
Destiny King says it certainly hasn’t been easy, but the 22-year-old mother is trying to do her best to keep on a positive face, less than two months after she lost her son, Tremir. She wants to stay strong for Tremir’s older brother, Quadir Matthews.
“I don’t want this long, stressful, depressed, sad, slow…life,” King said. “So I’m just going to make the best of it.”
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King believes Quadir knows his younger brother is gone.
“I feel like he knows, but he’s been handling it good,” she said.
Since Tremir’s death, King says she’s been surrounding her son and herself by family, both out of state and in Iowa. A trip to Chicago provided her son a good distraction, she said.
But Monday, following Greenup’s plea of not guilty, she said she was filled with emotion.
“I was shocked a little bit because I was like, ‘you’re really trying to fight this?'” King said. “There’s hella anger, for real. There’s hella anger that I can’t even— I can’t focus on that either because it’s not going to result in the right way. So I can’t go that route.”
For now, she’s focused on remembering the positive memories of Tremir.
“He was a happy baby. He liked to play. He was advanced…because he saw his brother doing stuff and was like, ‘I’m going to do that, too!’” King said. “And like he used his voice a lot. He was not afraid to show his emotion or how he felt. And like, you know, stand up for himself.”
King says she’ll be at Greenup’s trial, which is set for October 4.
“I know the facts, I know the truth,” said King. “And the truth always comes to light. No matter how much you try to hide it.”
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