Generic handcuff
Contra Costa prosecutors are filing murder, child abuse, and torture charges against a Rodeo couple who allegedly drowned a 2-year-old in a bathtub and physically abused a 10-month old baby, authorities said.
Destiny Deboe, 22, and Tyshawn Haywood, 21, were charged with murder, child abuse causing death, and two counts of torture — one for each victim — in connection with the Monday incident in their Rodeo apartment. Haywood and Deboe have not yet entered a plea and remained jailed with a bail set in excess of $1 million.
Authorities have not identified either victim by name or gender, but they have revealed that Deboe was both victims’ mother and Haywood is her boyfriend.
Deboe and Haywood were arrested Monday after police were called to their California Street apartment for a report of a child having drowned. The 2-year-old was pronounced dead later that evening and the 10-month-old was hospitalized with injuries, authorities said.
The arrests come just days after a shockingly similar child abuse, torture, and homicide case ended in a plea deal, and while a jury in Martinez is weighing child murder charges against a Richmond couple.
In the Rodeo case, Rene and Crystal Diaz were charged with torturing and murdering 11-year-old Annai Diaz, who was handcuffed, burned, beaten, and forced to sleep without a blanket during cold winter months, before succumbing in March 2021.
The exact manner of death was ruled undetermined, and the case ended in plea deals with drastically different outcomes for both parents — Rene received a life sentence with a chance for parole in seven years, while Crystal received a six-year prison term.
As prosecutors filed the case against Deboe and Haywood from the county District Attorney’s office in Martinez, a jury one block away at the AF Bray Courthouse continues to deliberate on charges of murder against Ray Ray Darn and Marilyn Northington in the death of their 6-week-old son, Amary Darn. Each parent is blaming the other for Amary’s death, and testimony revealed the boy suffered horrific injuries from beatings, starvation, burns, meth ingestion, and untreated sores.
Originally published at Nate Gartrell, Rick Hurd