MASON DeCOSMO - 2 yo (8/2014) - / Charged: Mother's BF; Kenneth M. Stahli - Milton NY

Milton man fatally beat girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, police say; funeral fundraiser launched

By Diane Pineiro-Zucker, Daily Freeman
POSTED: 08/07/14, 12:42 PM EDT
UPDATED: 42 SECS AGO

Kenneth M. ‘Kenny’ Stahli, left, is accused of killing 2-year-old Mason Decosmo, right.

MILTON >> A Milton man has been charged with second-degree murder in the beating death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son, state police said Thursday.

Kenneth M. “Kenny” Stahli, 26, of 16 Walnut Park Lane, Milton, was booked for “murder/depraved indifference” at 11:45 p.m. Wednesday, according to information posted on the state police website.

Police said their investigation found the child, Mason L. Decosmo, was the victim of physical abuse over the course of several days at the hands of Stahli.

The child’s death — at the home Mason and his mother, Katlin Wolfert, shared with Stahli — was reported to police in a 911 call about 4 p.m. Tuesday. Town of Marlborough police and emergency medical workers arrived at the scene and started cardiopulmonary resuscitation. Mason then was taken to Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

An autopsy conducted Wednesday determined Mason died of blunt force, and the Dutchess County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the death a homicide, police said.

State police Senior Investigator Chris Thorpe said Mason’s mother was not home when the child died. Thorpe did not know, however, if she was home during any of the period when Stahli allegedly abuse the toddler.

Police have not said who made the 911 call on Tuesday.

Stahli was not related to Mason or to another infant who lived in the home, said Ulster County District Attorney Holley Carnright.

Milton, where the home is located, is a hamlet in the town of Marlborough, in southern Ulster County.

Stahli was arraigned in Marlborough Town Court and sent to the Ulster County Jail without bail.

Thursday afternoon, a fundraising effort was underway on YouCaring.com to help pay for Mason’s funeral.

“Two-year-old Mason Decosmo was the victim of a horrible act of deadly violence and was taken from this world far too soon,” read a posting on the site, next to a photo of Mason and his mother. “Please support his single mother, Katlin, in affording the funeral costs.”

The post described Mason as “a precious little boy who was full of all the energy, laughter, love and happiness that a two-year-old-should have.”

http://www.dailyfreeman.com/general-news/20140807/milton-man-fatally-beat-girlfriends-2-year-old-son-police-say-funeral-fundraiser-launched-online

Another POS mother.  Another POS man.