3-Year-Old Roxbury Boy Was 'Beaten Up' Before Death, Cousin Says
BOSTON (CBS) – As a neighbor leaves flowers outside a home on Alpine Street in Roxbury, it's clear the death of three year old Kenai Whyte has touched many hearts.
"He was a baby. That shouldn't happen to a baby, that makes me sad," said neighbor Blanca Marquez.
The little boy was rushed to the hospital Sunday night with serious injuries and died two days later.
His second cousin Kevon Young, who saw the body with family, is convinced it was no accident.
"His head was enormous and bruised up from the right. I could tell somebody had beaten him," Young tells WBZ-TV.
Investigators are not yet calling it a homicide investigation until they get autopsy results.
"We still have interviews to do in this case and we are waiting for the medical examiner to determine the cause of death," said Boston police commissioner William Evans.
Kenai Whyte is known to the Department of Children and Families as the state has been involved with the family. Last Friday social workers provided a report that was not concerning, that Kenai was well fed, clean, with no behavioral issues. But days later he was gone and Kevon Young want to know why.
"Something happened in that apartment. We're trying to figure it out. The story is not adding up," Young said.
He describes his cousin as a playful toddler who spent weekends with his father and weekdays with his mother. Even as investigators provide few details, Young wants justice.
"That hurt so much that a baby's life was taken away. He didn't have a chance to live life."
WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Carl Stevens reports