A Round Lake Beach woman and her boyfriend are facing murder charges after authorities said the woman’s malnourished, bruised child was found dead at their home.
Dominique Servant, 33, and Joey L. Ruffin, 38, are charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment in the death of Servant’s 8-year-old son. Authorities have yet to release the boy’s name.
During a Sunday court appearance, prosecutors said Ruffin regularly hit the child with a belt and made the boy hold weights over this head as a punishment. On Friday, the child seemed “sluggish,” so Ruffin made the boy take a cold shower, prosecutors said. The child later collapsed, they said.
A 10-year-old sibling of the victim was brought to a hospital for treatment of apparent malnourishment and abuse, according to reports.
Authorities said that police and fire/rescue personnel were dispatched Friday shortly after 2 p.m. to the 1900 block of Cedar Lake Road for a report of an unresponsive child.
Police and paramedics began CPR, and the child was brought to a hospital where he was pronounced dead.
First responders noticed that the child seemed malnourished and had bruising on his body, police said.
Police and the Lake County Major Crime Task Force investigated and determined that the child had been subjected to long-term neglect and physical and mental abuse, the task force said in a news release.
The Lake County Coroner’s Office said it made similar findings during an initial examination, according to the task force.
Prosecutors said they would seek to have Ruffin and Servant detained during a Sunday court appearance. Judge James Simonian ordered them held until a detention hearing on Monday.
Ruffin made recordings of himself punishing the child, prosecutors said, including one taken just about an hour before 911 was called.
Round Lake Beach Police Chief Ryan Rodriguez said he and his officers were “shaken to the core” by the child’s death.
“There are simply no words that can fully capture the heartbreak we feel as parents, neighbors, friends, and as a police department,” he said in a social media post. “When a precious child is taken from us in such a way, it is natural to feel anger. It is natural to feel confusion. It is natural to ask why.
“I share in that grief,” he said. “In moments like this, we must come together, not apart. We must support one another.”
“This 8-year old child should still be alive, and this horrific crime was preventable,” State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said. “In light of the ongoing nature of this investigation, the moral mandate that we secure justice, and the need to hold every responsible party accountable, we will be providing limited information prior to a full presentment of charges to the grand jury.”
