Man kills 10-week-old son with a washcloth taped in his mouth
Desmond Justin Murray, 24, killed his 10-week-old son simply because he wanted him to stop crying.
The autopsy report found the child died from asphyxiation. Other injuries were found such as broken ribs and bruising on his head.
The mother reports a pattern of abuse for this poor infant’s entire life. She claims Murray threatened her and prevented her from intervening.
Desmond Justin Murray is currently being held without bail on first-degree murder charges.
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April 30th, 2007 at 11:10 am
I’m sorry, I can’t feel sorry for the mother in this one. I would gladly give my life before I would let anyone hurt my child. Especially a defenseless 10 week old. If they don’t have you in their corner, who do they have? They can’t defend themselves.
This man needs to be put away for good. Death penalty, life in prison, whatever. The baby’s life is over. His should be too.
April 30th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Crying from the broken ribs I assume, how sad is this….and killed. So many people kill babies because they cry, what the hell is this about? Babies can ONLY cry to communicate. This poor poor soul. I feel NO remorse for the mother, she should be charged. She knew a newborn was being beaten from the beginning and did not report it or leave, just leave. The hospital and doctor/pediatricain that you have to follow up with HAVE to ask if anyone is being abused or is scarred in the home due to non-reporting of abuse. You even have to sign a paper at the hospital. If she was too freightened to get help for a newborn baby, why should anyone help her, she was not willing to die for her child, she is alive telling us how scarred she was and her baby is dead. No sympathy. How can she live with that outcome waking up every day…Protecting a baby should be an instinct, especially if its yours.
April 30th, 2007 at 3:11 pm
I totally agree with Renee. Its just instinct to protect your child from harm. I feel no remorse for this mother, she should fry just like him.
April 30th, 2007 at 3:48 pm
Dumb ass women bring these type of men into their lives and let them do this to innocent babies…she should get the same sentence for not stopping this….NO EXCUSES! And when these people get the death sentence they say that lethal injection is “cruel and unusual” that should be the definition for this idiot. Instead of lethal injection for this guy how about we re-enact what he did to this baby? Just my opinion
April 30th, 2007 at 4:04 pm
This poor little angel. I have a daughter half his age, and, at 5 weeks old, she only cries for 4 reasons (feed me, burp me, comfort me, and the need to cry to let off steam). I was under the impression that she was a perfect baby and I am the luckiest mommy on the face of the earth. My husband (thank goodness he is a loving, gentle father) and I would protect our children at any cost to ourselves. If your in an abusive relationship and you can’t leave for yourself then leave for your children, and if you can’t leave for your children then leave them where they are safe. Why didn’t this woman just leave the baby in the hospital; doesn’t Florida have a safe haven law?
April 30th, 2007 at 5:34 pm
It must hurt people who are unable to have babies to hear that these scum have the gift of a beautiful child and yet feel free to treat it like shit. I don’t believe the mother couldn’t have told someone. This is another classic case of the mother choosing her partner over the child. Oh yeah just incase there is any one out there who doesn’t get it yet…BABIES CRY!!! it is what they do.
April 30th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
I’ve said before on this site that some people react very badly to the crying of an infant, and just lose it out of an adrenaline spike caused by the biological response to that nerve-shattering noise. The usual thing for such people is to shake or strike the baby, suddenly and without any premeditation. But to stuff a washcloth into the baby’s mouth and tape it shut?!! And oh, yeah, tossing him into a closet like that! Now that is just plain cold-blooded murder. That man simply wanted that baby dead, whether because he didn’t like the noise, or other reasons. Death penalty, dammit!!
May 1st, 2007 at 4:12 am
yes, i live in Florida, close to where this happened and they do have a safe haven law. this site often shocks me and upsets me, this story literally made me cry…i feel for this little guy to the fullest, i would gladly let the little man come to my house and cry, all you have to do is pick them up. little newborns are so delicate they cant hurt a thing, the mom makes me sick, i hope she goes to jail, but she wont, remember she was the “victim” too. people like this in this instance really do deserve to die, only good people die anymore and these assholes serve a year, sucking up OUR tax dollars, and are freed back into society and now the government is pushing for felons to get their rights back because this is america. why do we even have laws? no one follows them, nothing is ever done to these fuckers that kill and they are released right back. what’s the point of laws, there never followed and it just costs tons of money for no reason!!! i am so pissed and upset and saddened by this one, its time for something to happen, on no wait, AGAIN NOTHING WILL!!!!!!!!!!
May 1st, 2007 at 4:17 am
Little papa was crying prob cuz his ribs and head hurt!! The more he cried the more his ribs hurt so he cried some more! If my husband was abusive I would take the beatings and protect my baby……But I would have a plan. Get about $5 in nickels put them in a tube sock and tie the end. When daddy/monster goes to sleep……wack him across the head and a couple times in the ribs (one good one for the baby)then ……RUN LIKE THE DEVIL IS AFTER YOU!!! I should teach a class on how to fight back! Just kidding. I would take my baby and get out!
May 1st, 2007 at 4:27 am
I just read that mom and monster had only been dating 14 months! 9+2 1/2= 11 1/2 So she only knew him 2 1/2 months (the exact time her baby lived) before she was pregnant! Oh yeah she should’ve used the sock method on him! Right before his DJ gig! Or just left when he went to DJ. He is not cute (#1). He had no money (#2) and he beat her (#3). Why was she with him! Maybe he was king ding a ling! Lauren, I agree he is going to do maybe a year. And suck up my TAX dollars. Shoot I can barely afford to live in florida. My property taxes just went up AGAIN! And gas in Palm Beach county is CRAZY! I need to car pool.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:13 am
Some people are real shit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
May 1st, 2007 at 6:18 am
The mother is just as bad. He needs to fry and she needs to spend the rest of her life in prison. That poor little angel – I pray his little soul knows peace.
May 1st, 2007 at 6:25 am
Nikki, love the sock method, in the military they used soap in a sock for people who couldn’t follow the rules, imagine that…rules…let alone laws!!!
Lauren: I am right with you on your feelings. I find myself crying in sadness as a mother myself and trying to imagine the suffering of the babies and what the hell is in these people minds and thinking they deserve to die, immediately! And crying again knowing nothing will change, our laws do not protect children enough because they are not worth anything, no money, it only costs money for the government to take care of children and since they don’t earn a paycheck or pay tax, the government sees them as a liability and therefore, punishment for people who hurt children is often very light, afterall this has been happening for years but covered up. How old are the presiding judges????? In jail child murderes/rapists get protective custody (PC)and they can get paroled after a third of their sentence–and we all need to stop this excuse of I was abused or scared so its an excuse for allowing crime, rape, torture and death to occur. The laws need to change, that if you were abused or scared, the you willfully and whole heartedly knew the malicious intent of the crime, FRY ****
May 1st, 2007 at 9:55 am
We don’t do nearly enough to protect women from abusive men, or to teach them how to identify abusive men in the first place, or to recognize how vulnerable you are when you’re economically dependent on a man. We teach our girls myths about romantic true love and about how Prince Charming will come along and take care of all her problems. And they learn this awful passivity, where once you’ve fallen for a bad man (and you’re set up to fall for a bad one because you think that jealous possessiveness and controlling behavior are romantic and sweet) you can’t save yourself, because if you depend on Prince Charming to save you, who’s going to save you when Prince Charming turns out to be an ogre?
I have some sympathy for the woman in this situation, but not much. Women are so often killed by abusers when they try to get away, and the law lets them get away with it, it’s not a big shock. We don’t actually teach girls to be warriors in defense of their babies. It’s against the whole Christian cult of indoctrinated womanhood and total passivity, so the same people that won’t let these women get their hands on birth control and won’t let them abort if they get knocked up by these bastards won’t teach them that they need to defend themselves and their children. No, it’s all about submit to the will of your man, even if he’s a bastard who’ll beat your baby to death.
The system needs to take women’s complaints of abuse *seriously*. And maybe we do need to change the laws so that when women give birth, they are informed in the hospital that if they don’t report child abuse committed by their SO, they will be charged as accessories to it, and if they do report, they will be protected and given help in finding a new life. And then we need to actually fund such an initiative and actually *do* it.
May 1st, 2007 at 11:51 am
Jane of Shadow, I am sorry but i disagree, i cannot feel any sympathy whatsoever for some dumb “abused, like i said earlier the “victim”, that watched someone stuff a washcloth and tape into her newborns mouth and then shove him into a closet, fuck her and him
May 1st, 2007 at 12:04 pm
This happened close to where I live. It was in our local newspaper. I remember reading the article on my lunch break in total amazement. My co-worker stopped everything and asked me what was wrong, I suppose I stopped eating… I sure wasn’t hungry anymore. When I read the article to everyone in the lunchroom we immediately stopped eating and began a discussion about what should happen to this man. Everyone thought death would be too good for him. There is nothing anyone can ever do to him to “get even” for what he did to this child. His true punishment will begin when he takes his last breath.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:28 pm
The truth is many women out there like abusive men. Put them with a nice man and they’ll cheat on them with scum like that.
May 1st, 2007 at 1:31 pm
All I can say is there is a special place in hell for this “person” and I hope that they put him in it soon. As for the mother she should have protected that baby with her life if she had to. The guys could’nt have been there all the time. She should have taken that baby and left after the first time her boyfriend layed an ill hand on the child. Pathetic excuse for a person. I hope they both rot.
May 1st, 2007 at 7:54 pm
Please…I worked at a shelter for abused women and I still dont have sympathy for this FOB…try them both and cut their tubes/cords while you’re at it…I wouldn’t stand there and let someone kill a dog, never mind a precious baby…Let’s all play the victim card!
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:18 am
Jane, I agree with you…there are women, who are so violently abused that are completely unable to defend themselves much less defend their children. In a perfect world, she would have grabbed that baby and ran…but, I can almost hear his voice telling her how he would find her, find her and kill them both, or, if he cant find her, kill her family..and, she knows he is crazy enough to do it..he is crazy enough to shove a washcloth into the mouth of an infant..what was he doing to her..and what was he threatning to do?
Could she have left and taken out a restraining order? sure..but he probably would have killed them both before the ink was dry on it…
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:24 am
One more thing..I forgot to add…this baby was a pawn in his abuse of her…he wouldn’t even have to have laid a hand on her anymore…just abusing this poor baby was abusing her (as it would be to any mother)…
Love how this asshole denies abusing the baby and of course, blames the mom..thus further mentally punishing her…ass!
Murray has denied abusing the child and blamed the boy’s mother for his death on March 1, police said.
But Daidon’s mother, Khristyne Barkley, told detectives that Murray abused the baby over a period of weeks. She also said he had abused her repeatedly and had threatened to hurt her if she intervened to help the baby.
Barkley told detectives that Murray “had grown frustrated with Daidon’s crying and had learned he could stop the baby from crying by forcing air from his abdomen by pushing down on the baby’s stomach.”
May 2nd, 2007 at 7:36 am
This is what gets me…we in this society have a hard time blaming mothers…why do you think so many moms still get custody even if they arent the best parent for the child? What about women who use meth while pregnant….do they get the sympathy card too???
May 2nd, 2007 at 11:43 am
I have no problem blaming mothers…meth moms should be locked up while pregnant to prevent them from doing meth..but, then reality kicks in…we cannot lock someone up for “their own safety” just like we cannot castrate or sterilize someone to prevent them from molesting or breeding like rabbits. There are MANY who should be, but, living in America, it will never happen…I’m just saying..I am astounded by the mob mentality on this website..burn them all at the stake right??!! There comes a time when you have to look at the circumstances…it doesn’t make it right, it just makes you more informed. For instance, the comments above “some women just like abusive men?? Calling abused women stupid?? Just fries my ass…there are abused women from all classes and races…they are neither stupid nor do they LIKE IT.
Had this guy killed both the mom and the baby..THEN maybe..you would have felt sorry for her too…
May 2nd, 2007 at 2:21 pm
if my husband/boyfriend/whatever killed my baby, i would be GRATEFUL if he killed me. frankly, he would’ve had to.
even if he had said “i’ll find you and kill you both” – i’d rather risk that than watch someone kill my child.
a mother’s life is WORTHLESS if she does not do everything in her power, and sometimes even things NOT within her power, to protect her child.
anyone who feels even REMOTELY differently about that should not be allowed to have children to begin with.
May 2nd, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Yes, I would look at this entirely different if he had killed them both and she would get a sympathy vote…because it would have meant that she protected her child…hell isn’t hot enough for either one of them..
And I wish nuetering and spading of bad parents was happening in this country…we do it for dogs but not murderers or pedophiles…interesting
May 2nd, 2007 at 5:49 pm
Jane is right.
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:29 am
I wasn’t saying some women like to be abused. But there are many women out there that subconsciously seek out abusive men. The psychology behind that is a subject too large for a blog post.
I knew woman like that and she would poke fun at me for changing diapers and watching the kids. Apparently I wasn’t man enough to slap the wife around and tell her to do it.
May 4th, 2007 at 9:42 am
That stupid motherfucker hates his baby so much that he wanted to kill him for crying! I wouldn’t do that! When I’ll get married one day, if my future husband hurts any of my future kids, then I’d hurt him! As for the mother, why the fuck can’t she do anything to stop her evil husband from killing his poor baby?!
May 14th, 2007 at 4:59 am
I know this comment is coming long after the story was published. Truth is I was checking to see if the mother had been charged yet. She should be. I am ashamed to say that Desmond Murray was a close friend of mine for 10 plus years. I grew up with him, he dated my best friend. I would have never guessed that he could have done this to anyone, let alone his own son. I have a new son myself. He is just now 6 months old and I would gladly die to protect him. I hope with all of my heart that Desmond gets whats coming to him, but Barkley should not be spared at all. It is you JOB to protect your child at any cost, and she deserves everything that she gets. I cannot get past this for some reason, I can’t believe that someone could hurt a baby just because he is crying. He is a baby that is how they communicate…He is scum and I hope to god that he rots in hell!!
June 28th, 2007 at 8:57 pm
I grew up down the street from this guy and was shocked when I heard what had happened! We were literally friends. However, even though I am shocked I do not feel for him or his girlfriend. I have a two year old son and I would do ANYTHING to protect him. As a mother, that is my job. It’s what I live for. No man is worth losing a child over. I hope he gets what he deserves. I wish the mother would get it too but I guess she has to live with the fact that she did nothing to save her baby. DESMOND, you are evil and I hope you pay for what you did! I hope you are ready when it’s time to answer to the man upstairs!
July 6th, 2007 at 10:20 am
All Prospective Parents should know:
A baby can be fed, washed, changed, burped, held, cuddled, put down, sung to, put in a swing, put in a sling, hushed,loved rocked, strolled, driven, and any combination thereof and STILL CRY.
Accept the noise, do the best you can, and put that baby safely down in another room and go outside to cool down. Some babies cry a little, some cry alot, and some cry ALL THE TIME. It is not your job as a parent to MAKE the child stop crying. Do your best to comfort the child, but you do not have the power to make it stop.
July 14th, 2007 at 11:12 pm
Well Chris I agree with you, I grew up with Desmond. I was completely shocked that a “friend” of mine could have commited such a heinous crime. He was so normal in middle and high school. I still do not have any sympathy for that ass. When I heard about this my stomach lurched, I was appaled I have a 8 month old and at the time that Desmond murdered his little boy, mine was only 4 months old. The only thing that a baby should know is love and poor Daidon knew nothing but pain. I truely believe that God took him so that he would not have to suffer any longer. And that disgusting disgrace of a mother deserves to burn right along beside Desmond. I grew up with him…he could have been fought off with passion or a kitchen knife. I assure you if anyone touched my son I would kill them before I let thim hurt him.
July 29th, 2007 at 8:21 pm
He threatened the mother so she couldn’t help. POOR POOR BITCH!! The only way someone could stop me if they were hurting my child is if they killed me first…………
August 5th, 2007 at 5:43 pm
Where is the mother in all these situations when a father hangs a baby out the window when a father sexually abuses his daughter when a father put a fucking washcloth in his babies mouth and shoves him in a the closet WHERE IS THE FUCKING MOTHER?
Why are some women so fuckin blind that they’ll let these things happen without doing shit.
August 13th, 2007 at 9:28 pm
Jesus I can’t believe a mother would allow such a thing to happen to her child. I yell at my husband if he lets our 11 month old crawl to the steps. I mean broken ribs, I hope this man reaps what he sows.
Is it really that important to have a man…….
October 16th, 2007 at 4:08 am
What’s with all of these stupid bitches who choose a MAN over your OWN BABY?!!! What a bunch of dipshits! My husband KNOWS who I would pick if I had to choose between him and my son…adios honey!! There is no way in hell I would EVER choose a man before my baby. This bitch is as guilty as he is. They should lock both of them up forever! That poor little guy didn’t have a chance with a monster for a “father” and a “mother” who wouldn’t protect him. God, what a tragic loss.
April 24th, 2008 at 7:55 am
I cannot feel sorry for this mother. I just can’t. My husband is a wonderful man, but if he ever did what this man did, I would leave him in a heartbeat. Don’t tell me there was never a time she could have run away. I would have taken my child or children in my case, with me and run to the nearest women and children’s shelter. If I had to, I would have called protective services and told them to take my kids away because the man I was with was trying to kill them. I would do ANYTHING to protect my babies, even lose them if I was afraid the man would track me down. So there you go. That poor little kid deserved so much better, and his own mother refused to do whatever it took to protect him. If he was in the home all the time and I couldn’t leave I would have poisoned him, beat him to death with something while he slept, or anything else to protect my babies. I can’t believe other people wouldn’t do the same. I may have rotted in jail for the rest of my life, but I would have been okay with it, knowing my babies were alive and well.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:41 am
Like I said before, I have been in an abusive relationship, but he would have had to KILL me before he got to my kids!! I don’t see that as an excuse to sit back and let someone abuse, or even kill, your child. There is no way.
June 6th, 2009 at 12:29 pm
people who does this are totally sick.. i cannot believe that we live in the world of such sick bastards..
September 18th, 2009 at 10:32 pm
So, did Desmond Justin Murray get the death penalty? Is he even still in prison?
October 7th, 2009 at 12:40 pm
I have been a victim of domestic violence. I left my baby’s father the DAY I FOUND OUT I WAS PREGNANT. I took my 10 year old daughter and we moved to another town and stayed in a domestic violence shelter for 5 months until we got our apartment. I was only with the guy for 2 months. He got me pregnant on purpose, thinking I would stay with him if I was knocked up. WRONG. I am thrilled to have my beautiful son, and I know that his father will NEVER get his hands on him or hurt him. Being in an abusive relationship isn’t an excuse to let some man hurt your offspring. I did not put him on the birth certificate. I claimed good cause so the state will not go after him for child support, because I want there to be no chance of him ever being around my children. There are ways to protect your children and yourself. You don’t have to sit there and allow some bastard to destroy your world. I did everything I had to do to protect my children, and what’s more is I guarantee you that if he ever managed to find me, I would literally kill him in defense of my kids and myself and not feel an ounce of remorse. That is a mother’s JOB. Not waiting on some man and letting him hurt your baby and beat you down. I can’t feel much pity for a woman who knows that their tiny infant is being hurt and doesn’t immediately stop the abuse HOWEVER they have to do it. Either run and get out or kill the person hurting the baby. It is simple instinct. A biological imperative to protect our young. WTF is wrong with some people?