Grand jury indicts in fatal child abuse

Published Sunday, September 28, 2008

A Boone County grand jury on Friday handed down indictments naming the parents of a 2-year-old boy, accusing them of felony murder in the toddler’s death earlier this year.


Johnson	Lumpkin

Horace Johnson and Keyonda Lumpkin, both 26, are charged with second-degree murder in Boone County Circuit Court in the death of their son, Cortez Johnson. The child died in June after Lumpkin took him to University Hospital with injuries that hospital staff considered suspicious.

According to court documents, the toddler’s injuries included burns and bruises throughout his body in different stages of healing and lacerations on his wrist from ligatures.

An autopsy determined the boy died from blunt force trauma to the head.

Prosecutors presented the case to the grand jury during confidential proceedings. Lumpkin and Johnson, respectively, are scheduled for arraignment Oct. 6 and 14 in front of Boone County Circuit Judge Gene Hamilton.