Police arrested a Bronx, New York man for the sexual abuse and murder of a 1-year-old baby boy, officials said Saturday.
23-year-old Keishawn Gordon faces second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter, second-degree manslaughter, and first-degree aggravated sexual abuse.
On Thursday, police responded to the Webster Houses at around 3 p.m. for a call of an unconscious child, police said at the time. When authorities arrived, they found the infant unconscious in a bedroom.
“The defendant, Keishawn Gordon, allegedly carried out monstrous acts against defenseless one-year-old Legacy Beauford. Gordon allegedly inflicted blunt force trauma on the child, leaving him with a lacerated liver, and allegedly sexually abused the infant. We will seek justice for the innocent child, who suffered so much,” DA Clark said in a press release.
The baby boy, Legacy Beauford, was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Officials identified Gordon as the baby’s mother’s boyfriend.
According to DA Clark, the NYC Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that Legacy’s death was a homicide caused by “blunt force trauma injuries to the torso, which led to a lacerated liver and internal bleeding.”
“The defendant also allegedly sexually abused the child with a toothbrush,” the press release stated.
The NYPD’s Special Victims Unit on July 14 and social workers were tasked with investigating a tip that Legacy’s older brother was a victim of ongoing sexual abuse in the home. The investigation was reportedly closed before police interviewed or examined either child.
Gordon said he was babysitting the child overnight while Legacy’s mother Jessica Melendez was at work. Asked about the extensive bruising that covered the child’s body, Gordon initially told detectives that all he did was squeeze the toddler’s stomach gently and toss him up and down in an attempt to get him to stop crying, authorities said. But investigators continued to press Gordon, who eventually admitted that he punched the crying baby and sexually assaulted him.
“I was frustrated he wouldn’t stop crying. He kept throwing up,” Gordon said, according to the complaint. “I mushed him. He was irking me.”
The New York Post reported that Gordon had previously been arrested 18 times (seven of the arrests were for felonies). Gordon was charged with felony assault in 2018 for allegedly grabbing a woman by the neck and slamming her to the floor and robbery in 2019.
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