A criminal complaint details the child sex allegations against the Madison, Wisconsin man accused of killing his infant son and is wanted by the Madison Police Department after he did not show up for court in June of last year.
The charges against Arkeem Ashley were filed in March, nine months after he skipped the court appearance on a reckless homicide charge stemming from the death of the eight-week-old baby.
26-year-old Ashley had been released from jail on a $500 signature bond.
A bench warrant on this more recent charge was issued on March 16, the same day prosecutors filed the new complaint, which accuses Ashley of repeated sexual assault of a child, including at least three violations of first-degree sexual assault, a class B felony.
According to the complaint, the victim, who was eight or nine years old at the time, detailed three instances in which Ashley sexually assaulted her and described what happened to her as “traumatizing incidents.” The three assaults allegedly occurred between August 2016 and August 2018; however, the complaint notes that the girl did not tell her grandmother until late November or early December of 2020. The grandmother is the one who contacted the police.
The detective who wrote the complaint added that the victim stated other incidents did occur similar to the sexual assaults the allegations included.
The victim stated the incidents happened while she was staying with her babysitter, whom the complaint indicates was related to Ashley. In all three instances the girl accused Ashley of “humping” her with his clothes on. In two of the incidents, he pulled her from her bed or carried her to the couch before the assaults. Her grandmother told investigators the girl said she felt she had no choice during the assaults.
The grandmother also stated, according to the complaint, that the victim said she told her babysitter and the babysitter said she would talk to her son about it. The grandmother added that she does not believe those conversations ever occurred.
Ashley is also accused of first-degree reckless homicide in the in the May 2020 death of his son. The Dane Co. Medical Examiner’s Office determined the child died from homicide by blunt force injuries to the head.
The infant’s mother, 22-year-old Esthefania Martinez, discovered the baby in his bassinet not breathing, MPD reported at the time. Martinez was charged with neglecting a child.
Ashley and Martinez were both due in court in June 2021 for status conference hearings and bench warrants were issued that day. Madison police put out the call for information on their whereabouts on Monday, noting that they have ties in other states.
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