A Houston, Texas couple has been indicted for capital murder in the death of an 8-year-old boy who died in a motel room bathtub after being severely beaten, handcuffed, and bound with duct tape in March 2021, Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced Friday.
The attack was carried out by the boy’s mother and her boyfriend, Ogg said. The boy’s mother, 25-year-old Kayla Holzendorf and her common-law husband, 29-year-old Dominique Lewis, were indicted Thursday by a Harris County grand jury for the incident on March 23, 2021.
“The way this little boy died is almost unthinkable and absolutely horrifying,” Ogg said. “We believe he was handcuffed, bound at the ankles and legs with ligatures and duct-tape, had his mouth taped shut and was beaten so severely that he either died from blunt force trauma or suffocated on the blood from his broken teeth.”
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The couple called 911 to say that 8-year-old Keyontae Holzendorf had drowned in the bathtub at the motel where they lived, investigators said.
First responders with the Houston police and Houston fire departments arrived to find the boy was wet and there was steam in the bathroom, according to court records. Investigators said Lewis had water on his clothes.
Emergency medical technicians performed CPR and Keyontae was transported to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Court documents said the boy had numerous new and old injuries on his body, including severe ligature marks on his ankles and wrists (from handcuffs), broken teeth, and large pieces of skin missing from his thigh, chest, upper arms, and genitalia, which were consistent with duct tape being ripped off frantically.
SEE ALSO: Police Had Contact With 8-Year-Old Boy 3 Weeks Before His Death
According to documents, the couple told police that the boy had not been to school in a year and a half and didn’t have any friends. The couple said he spent his time with them and they began their days by buying a large package of muffins from HEB, putting them in a basket and then having the boy sell them in the parking lot of Kroger by saying that his mom baked them.
“This is obvious child torture, and the evidence is clear that the defendants acted intentionally; it was capital murder,” said Assistant District Attorney Gilbert Sawtelle, a chief in the DA’s child fatality division who is prosecuting the case.
If convicted of capital murder for killing a child under the age of 10, both could face the death penalty or life in prison without parole.
Ogg said decisions about whether to seek the death penalty are generally made by a committee of senior prosecutors, months after a defendant has been charged.
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