We are learning more about the two 19-year-old parents charged with murder for the death of a 5-month-old boy.
They are at the Hamilton County Justice Center right now. They have been there since Wednesday, December 22, when they were charged with child endangering. They made their first court appearance for murder Tuesday morning.
“Sams!” the bailiff called Shakayla Sams before the judge, arraigning her for the murder of her 5-month-old baby.
“Farrier!” the bailiff also called the baby’s father, Donte Farrier.
Dating back to 2017, Farrier has been in and out of the system since he was 14, charged with theft, assault, harassment, menacing, breaking and entering, and more.
Sams had no juvenile record, at least not in Hamilton County.
SEE ALSO: Parents Charged With Murder In Death Of 5-Month-Old Boy
Farrier and Sams lived with their son in an apartment in the Villages at Roll Hill.
A neighbor spoke to a local new station and said:
“To hear that baby died yesterday — I was up all night upset,” said Shirley Johnson-Gilliam. “I can’t believe — three doors down. I was thinking, ‘Dammit, I should have did something.'”
Johnson-Gilliam says she feels guilty; she had heard the baby in the past.
“I would hear that baby screaming,” she recalled. “And I was thinking, ‘I hope he’s maybe hungry or something or want to be held.'”
But it was apparently more than that. Court documents show the investigating detective determined, after speaking with medical personnel, the injuries to the baby occurred over the past several months.
Police last Wednesday were called to the apartment for an unresponsive child. Paramedics tried to revive the baby on their way to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. Farrier and Sams were taken into custody and charged with child endangering, but the coroner’s report shows Casey Sams died Monday, so his mom and dad were charged with murder.
Their neighbor said she heard the couple fighting sometimes but minded her own business. Now, she says she wishes she had paid better attention.
“That baby had no one fighting for him,” Johnson-Gilliam said, shaking her head. “And I heard that baby screaming.”
So now, Farrier and Sams wait to hear whether the prosecutor presents their case to a grand jury and whether that grand jury indicts them for murder, which is scheduled for January 3.
Sams and Farrier are held on $200,000 bonds.
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