Milwaukee mother charged with neglect in 3-year-old son’s death
By Sam Schmitz
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MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A Milwaukee mother has been charged in the death of her 3-year-old son, Da’Quarius Berry, after he was found unresponsive earlier this month near 29th Street and Concordia Avenue.
Prosecutors charged Zaquitta Joiner-Murphy, 34, with child neglect, resulting in death.
According to the criminal complaint, Joiner-Murphy said on Nov. 6 at around 5:40 a.m., she was getting her other four children ready for school. She claimed Berry was awake and appeared to be fine. She also said that other than being sick two weeks before with a stomach virus, Berry was in good health. Joiner-Murphy said she then left to drive the other children to a bus stop for school. She then returned home after claiming to be gone for ten minutes or less.
When Joiner-Murphy arrived back at home, she went to check on Berry. According to the complaint, Berry at that point was lifeless and had a faint pulse.
Berry was taken to a hospital where doctors found “a large hemorrhage in Berry’s abdomen that would have been caused by non-accidental trauma.”
Investigators said the injuries Berry sustained showed “complete utter disregard for human life.
Berry died at the hospital.
During an interview with police, Joiner-Murphy said there were only three caretakers for the children, according to the complaint. Herself, her boyfriend and a woman who lived upstairs from them. Joiner-Murphy told police that she was a bartender and worked from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. to raise money for her kids. She would get back from work just before 6 a.m. She would ask the upstairs neighbor occasionally to check on her kids while she was working. The upstairs neighbor eventually spoke with police and said she was living on and off there, but she was staying with her grandmother from Nov. 5 to 7, so she wasn’t responsible for checking on the kids during those days. Police later confirmed the neighbor was at her grandmother’s house through surveillance video, according to the complaint.
The complaint states that Joiner-Murphy was with her children during the day on Nov. 5 and that they were all fine. At 10:30 p.m., she left her home to pick up her boyfriend. The two returned to her home and hung out until around midnight. Afterwards, they went to get food. Joiner-Murphy admitted to leaving her five children home alone during this time, according to the complaint.
Both Joiner-Murphy and her boyfriend returned to her home around 1:30 a.m. so she could go to work from 2 a.m. to 5 a.m. Her boyfriend was with her the entire time while she was working. Before leaving, she claimed she yelled to her neighbor to watch the kids, according to the complaint.
When they returned to her home around 5:45 a.m., Joiner-Murphy said she some of her kids for school, according to the complaint. Berry also woke up during this time, while sitting on a couch. Berry was still on the couch when she left to drop her kids off at the bus stop. Her boyfriend was sleeping in her bed, according to the complaint. Some of her kids were picked up by the school bus in front of the house at 6:30 a.m. At 6:40 a.m., she drove the other two children to a corner to be picked up by another school bus. Once those children were picked up, she drove to a corner store to pick up food for Berry.
According to the complaint, when she returned home, Berry was asleep on the couch. The complaint did not give a specific time when she returned home. Joiner-Murphy then took a shower and went to change Berry. At this time, she realized Berry was unresponsive. She then told her boyfriend to call 911 as she began CPR on Berry.
A detective confronted Joiner-Murphy with the fact that her neighbor was not at the home 47 minutes into her interview with a detective. According to the complaint, Joiner-Murphy confirmed that she left her five children alone the night of Nov. 6 to the morning of Nov. 6.
Investigators are still looking into Berry’s death. Prosecutors wrote at the time of filing the complaint that Joiner-Murphy was one of two suspects who had the opportunity to inflict blunt force trauma to Berry’s abdomen. It’s unclear who the second suspect is in the complaint.
Joiner-Murphy appeared in court Saturday for an initial appearance, wearing an anti-suicide smock.
The court commissioner set Joiner-Murphy’s bond at $50,000.
“I am confronted by an extremely serious case involving the death of a child as a result of a significant amount injury I guess to the abdomen and substantial internal bleeding with very limited explanation in the criminal complaint except that the child was under the care of Ms. Joiner-Murphy,” said Milwaukee County Court Commissioner J.C. Moore during Joiner-Murphy’s initial court appearance on Nov. 15.
If convicted, Joiner-Murphy could face up to 25 years in jail.
Family told WISN 12 News reporter Kendall Keys Joiner-Murphy’s boyfriend was arrested at the hospital on a probation violation. The district attorney’s office said it had not received a referral for charges against him on Nov. 13.
Berry’s grandmother said the other children are now in the care of family members.
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