DONOVAN McKEE - 11 yo - Lincoln/ Pittsburgh PA

A 5-year-old boy who watched as his older brother was beaten to death has been placed in the care of his aunt, who said she is concerned for the child's mental health.

Crystal McKee said she will seek counseling for Vincere McKee, who confided some of what he witnessed to his 10-year-old cousin as the children struggled to grasp the death of 11-year-old Donovan McKee.

Police said Donovan was beaten to death by his mother's boyfriend over a nine-hour period Saturday in their Knoxville apartment, while she was at work and while Vincere looked on.

"[Vincere] said that Donovan told him that that was the worst pain, when he got hit in the head," Ms. McKee said. "That's what he told my daughter. My daughter said, 'Well, did you hold him?' He said, 'Yeah, I held my brother.' And she said, 'Well, that's good. Donovan's in a better place now. He feels no pain.' "

The pain on Monday was endured by relatives who grew close to Donovan in his short life, which by their accounts was troubled from the start.

Compounding their grief were questions about how hours of abuse -- and what police described as signs of earlier injuries on Donovan's body -- could go unnoticed or unreported.

Investigators were trying to decide whether charges were warranted against Donovan's mother, Cynthia McKee, 31, who police said returned to the apartment on Knox Avenue at 10 p.m. She called relatives first and then called 911 at 11:41 p.m., police said. She said her boyfriend, Anthony Lee Bush, 29, had assaulted her son, who was unresponsive. Mr. Bush was charged with homicide and child endangerment.

"The mother of the child is also a victim, but we are going to review the facts and see if in any way she helped to facilitate the abuse of this child received prior to and on the day of his death," said Mike Manko, a spokesman for the Allegheny County district attorney's office, which is trying to determine whether the case qualifies for capital punishment.

Investigators want to learn more about Mr. Bush's mental health history and why he was receiving Social Security disability payments, Mr. Manko said.

City homicide detectives, who returned to the scene Monday night, also had unanswered questions about how and when Donovan suffered injuries that appeared to be "healed over," suggesting earlier abuse. Police said they had uncovered no prior reports involving Donovan or his family but were continuing their probe. A spokeswoman for Allegheny County's Department of Human Services said confidentiality rules prevented her from commenting on whether the office had interacted with the family.

"She's hurting right now," Crystal McKee said of her sister, who called her Monday to say she was staying with a girlfriend. Crystal McKee said she raised Donovan, whose father was absent from his life, off and on in her home until her sister and Mr. Bush moved to Knoxville in 2008. Soon, she said, she stopped seeing Donovan regularly and got only glimpses into her sister's troubled romantic relationship with Mr. Bush, whom she met 10 years ago while he was living in an abandoned building. Vincere is Mr. Bush's son.

"He wasn't contributing anything, that was my issue with him," Crystal McKee said of Mr. Bush. She said she was disturbed when, in 2009, her sister told her that Mr. Bush had broken her jaw. Cynthia McKee did not report the injury to police. Still, Crystal McKee said she never noticed bruises or marks on her nephews. She last saw Donovan a year ago.

"It's a tragic ending to a life that never even blossomed," she said.

Donovan used a computer to attend cyber charter school in their home, which might have kept his injuries out of public view, said Mary Carrasco, director of A Child's Place at Mercy, who described the boy's death as a disturbing anomaly.

"We see abuse, we see death from abuse, but we don't tend to see someone who is essentially torturing a child for nine hours," said Dr. Carrasco, who did not have direct knowledge of Donovan's case but was troubled by it. She said most deadly child abuse erupts in a much shorter period of time and tends to involve younger victims, whose crying, for example, might trigger violence from a frustrated caretaker.

In this case, police said, Mr. Bush told detectives he started beating Donovan with wooden sticks when the child refused to vacuum the apartment. When the sticks broke, Mr. Bush told police, he would order Donovan to clean up the pieces before grabbing new sticks and beating the boy some more.

"This sounds much more cold-blooded," said Dr. Carrasco, who also heads the county's Child Fatality and Near Fatality Review Team, which has reviewed 34 fatal or nearly fatal cases of abuse over three years. Of the substantiated cases, 25 percent were at the hands of male intimate partners, such as a mother's husband or boyfriend. If a mother also suffers abuse, she may be too fearful to report a child's injuries to authorities, the doctor said.

Dr. Carrasco said the boy's death should be a cautionary tale for mothers who leave their children in the hands of partners who are prone to violence and a reminder that spotting child abuse is the responsibility of a community, not just social workers or police, who found Donovan's case among the more troubling.

"It was a somber night, it was a somber investigation," major crimes Lt. Daniel Herrmann said. "I saw it on my detectives' faces. I heard it in their voices."

Visitation for Donovan will be from 4 to 8 p.m. Thursday at Corpus Christi Church, 1550 Lincoln Ave., Lincoln-Lemington. Services will be at the church at 11 a.m. Friday.

Ms. McKee said she is trying to raise money for Vincere's future through the Donovan Alexander McKee fund. Donations are being accepted at Fifth-Third Bank branches.


Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12045/1210064-53.stm#ixzz1mN6pU7rL

11-year-old beaten to death for 9 hours by mom's boyfriend for not vacuuming: police

Anthony Bush faces murder and child abuse charges in the death of Donovan McKee, authorities say

By NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Monday, February 13, 2012, 8:43 AM
Police Handout


Anthony Bush, 29, is facing charges in connection with the beating death of his girlfriend's 11-year-old son, police say.

An 11-year-old Pittsburgh boy suffered nine hours of vicious abuse from
his mother's boyfriend before dying of his injuries, all because he
failed to vacuum the apartment, police said Sunday.

Anthony Bush was watching Donovan McKee while his mother was at work on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reported.

The 29-year-old savagely beat the boy for failing to clean up.

"Bush disciplined the child by beating him with various objects found in the apartment," Homicide Lt. Daniel Herrmann told the Post-Gazette.

Police said Bush used several wooden sticks on McKee, snapping the wood in the
process. He then made the young boy pick up the pieces.

At one point, Bush used a needle and thread to close a gash he made in McKee's knee, according to WTAE 4 News.

When McKee's mother returned around 11:40 p.m., she called authorities to
report that her boyfriend had beaten her son and that the child was
unresponsive, police said.

Authorities arrived and found the
child had suffered a head wound and had no pulse, the Post-Gazette
reported. The boy still showed some signs of life and was rushed to the
hospital, but later died.

A 5-year-old child was also in the house at the time but was unharmed, police said.

Bush was charged Sunday with homicide and child endangerment.

msheridan@nydailynews.com

At one point, Bush used a needle and thread to close a gash he made in McKee's knee, according to WTAE 4 News.

I can't begin to imagine the pain this poor boy endured before succumbing to the torture.

Once again I do not believe this was an isolated incident. Once again I hole the mother responsible for allowing it. She should have called 911 long before the boy died.

WTH is wrong with these people?

ANOTHER POS boyfriend. ANOTHER POS mother.

I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt.

I know Donovan and his mother. Cynthia loves her children. She was also taking beatings from this man and verbal abuse. Until you have lived in an abusive relationship and an abuse childhood, you don't know how these people react. She never lied to the police, even though the POS boyfriend threatened her to tell them he fell out the window. I am not saying what happened is right, I am talking just talking about the circumstances.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong. You don't even know how she was looking for away out of this abusive situation. You can't possible understand unless you have been there. It is easy for us to say " I would have killed that man". You were not terrorized by him.

indelwyn wrote:I know Donovan and his mother. Cynthia loves her children. She was also taking beatings from this man and verbal abuse. Until you have lived in an abusive relationship and an abuse childhood, you don't know how these people react. She never lied to the police, even though the POS boyfriend threatened her to tell them he fell out the window. I am not saying what happened is right, I am talking just talking about the circumstances.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong. You don't even know how she was looking for away out of this abusive situation. You can't possible understand unless you have been there. It is easy for us to say " I would have killed that man". You were not terrorized by him.

I can understand what you're saying - and I pray for the mother and the surviving sibling - BUT if she was being abused, she knew full well that he was or would abuse her kids too. She should have NEVER left them in his care. I sure as hell would have got my kids out of harm's way no matter what the cost to me.

indelwyn wrote:I know Donovan and his mother. Cynthia loves her children. She was also taking beatings from this man and verbal abuse. Until you have lived in an abusive relationship and an abuse childhood, you don't know how these people react. She never lied to the police, even though the POS boyfriend threatened her to tell them he fell out the window. I am not saying what happened is right, I am talking just talking about the circumstances.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong. You don't even know how she was looking for away out of this abusive situation. You can't possible understand unless you have been there. It is easy for us to say " I would have killed that man". You were not terrorized by him.

Why did she leave her children alone with this POS monster Why didn't she have him arrested? He couldn't have abused her if he was in jail.

If a woman is stupid enough to live with this evil type of man that is one thing. However, she has no right to expose her children to him and certainly no right to let him abuse, torture them and finally murder one of them.

There is no excuse for this woman not reporting this monster who was torturing her son. NO EXCUSE.

Did she not have any friends or family who would have helped her leave?

Why didn't she have him arrested?

Isn't there a woman's shelter there?

Did she have a minister she could have turned to?

You may feel sorry for her because she allowed him to beat her and her children. I don't. There are too many avenues to extricate ones self from abusive relationships. She should have known him better before she brought him into her home with her children.

This last fatal torture and beating was continued abuse. Abuse that she knew was going on. She knew it was illegal. She knew she could have called 911 and put an end to it. She chose to let it continue. She chose to let him torture this poor boy to death.

Obviously you don't think this is as evil as I think it is.

A precious child is dead and she is jointly responsible.

I hope she never has custody of another child again. She needs to go to prison.

indelwyn wrote:I know Donovan and his mother. Cynthia loves her children. She was also taking beatings from this man and verbal abuse. Until you have lived in an abusive relationship and an abuse childhood, you don't know how these people react. She never lied to the police, even though the POS boyfriend threatened her to tell them he fell out the window. I am not saying what happened is right, I am talking just talking about the circumstances.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong. You don't even know how she was looking for away out of this abusive situation. You can't possible understand unless you have been there. It is easy for us to say " I would have killed that man". You were not terrorized by him.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong.

How am I wrong? She never reported his prior beatings. She allowed him to torture the poor child for at least 9 hours on the day he finally killed him. Death was his only escape. How am I wrong?

So_Cal wrote:

indelwyn wrote:I know Donovan and his mother. Cynthia loves her children. She was also taking beatings from this man and verbal abuse. Until you have lived in an abusive relationship and an abuse childhood, you don't know how these people react. She never lied to the police, even though the POS boyfriend threatened her to tell them he fell out the window. I am not saying what happened is right, I am talking just talking about the circumstances.

"I don't think she would have called 911 if the boy had not been unresponsive, regardless of how bad he was hurt."

You are so wrong. You don't even know how she was looking for away out of this abusive situation. You can't possible understand unless you have been there. It is easy for us to say " I would have killed that man". You were not terrorized by him.

I can understand what you're saying - and I pray for the mother and the surviving sibling - BUT if she was being abused, she knew full well that he was or would abuse her kids too. She should have NEVER left them in his care. I sure as hell would have got my kids out of harm's way no matter what the cost to me.

I agree completely. As you might have already guessed. LOL.

Hope everything is good in your corner of the world.