KEY'ONTAY MILLER PETERSON - 4 yo (6/13) - / Charged: Mother and boyfriend, Sha’reese Monique Miller and William Alphonso Warr - Burnsville, MN

Convicted abuser now charged in Burnsville 4-year-old's death

By Marino Eccher


Posted:   01/23/2014 12:01:00 AM CST

Updated:   01/23/2014 09:59:17 PM CST




William Alphonso Warr (Courtesy of Dakota County sheriff's office)



A Hopkins man has been indicted on first-degree murder charges in Dakota County in the death of a 4-year-old Burnsville boy.

William Alphonso Warr, 25, had been the boyfriend of the child's mother. He wasn't supposed to be seeing the woman or her children because of an order for protection against him.

The child, Key'ontay Miller Peterson, was found dead in a Burnsville apartment June 11 after police and paramedics responded to a call that he wasn't breathing.

The Hennepin County medical examiner's office found the cause of his death to be blunt-force injuries to his chest and abdomen.

He had bruises on his head, face, arms and chest, and eight broken ribs from at least two different occasions, according to the autopsy.

The boy's mother said he had been complaining of stomach pain and flu-like symptoms for the week before his death. She said he passed out in the bath and stopped breathing just before she called 911.

Warr had beaten the woman more than once, according to prosecutors. Warr admitted to "physically disciplining" the boy but said he wasn't responsible for his death, prosecutors said.

When police responded to the 911 call, they found Warr trying to leave the apartment parking lot in his car, claiming he needed to get to the hospital.

He then tried to run away but tripped and was arrested.

Warr originally was charged with violating an order for protection, fleeing police, giving a fake name to police, driving after revocation and criminal property damage for crashing into a garage as he tried to drive away.

He pleaded guilty to those charges in July and was serving a sentence of two years and two months in St. Cloud when a Dakota County grand jury indicted him on the murder charges.

The charges became public Thursday when he made his first court appearance in the case.

Warr has prior convictions for two felony domestic assaults, a third-degree drug sale and violating an order for protection.

He has a 1-year-old daughter with Key'ontay's mother, but Key'ontay and his younger brother were not Warr's children. A Hennepin County order for protection barred him from contact with the woman and her two children at the time of Key'ontay's death.

Warr told police he tried to run because he knew he wasn't supposed to be there.

In all, the grand jury indicted Warr on eight charges -- four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of second-degree murder.

Three of the first-degree charges are for murder while committing child abuse, which requires proof of a pattern of abusing children and the victim's death being caused by circumstances "manifesting in extreme indifference to human life."

They include murder while committing assault, malicious punishment of a child, neglect of a child and domestic abuse.

In 2012, a day care employee noticed an injury on Key'ontay's head. The boy said it was from Warr "whooping him," prosecutors said.

In May 2013, the boy suffered a black eye. Warr said it was from the child falling and hitting his eye on a toy box, but Key'ontay told another family member Warr had hit him again, causing him to fall and hurt his eye, according to prosecutors.

The last first-degree charge is for murder while committing domestic abuse, which again requires a pattern.

The second-degree charges are for murder while committing assault, malicious punishment, child neglect or while harming someone under an order for protection.

Warr is being held in lieu of $1 million bail without conditions and $750,000 with conditions, although he is still serving his sentence for the original charges.

His next court date is set for April 29.


http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_24978306/man-charged-murder-4-year-old-burnsville-boy

Burnsville mom charged with letting boyfriend fatally beat son, then lying

• Article by: PAUL WALSH , Star Tribune
  
• Updated: February 3, 2014 - 3:28 PM
  

A Burnsville woman was charged Monday with allowing her live-in boyfriend to fatally beat her 4-year-old son and then failing to get the child medical attention in time to save his life.

Sha’reese Monique Miller, 24, was charged in Dakota County District Court with three counts of second-degree manslaughter in the death of Key’ontay Miller Peterson on June 11 at the boy’s home. Miller remains jailed in lieu of $50,000, with conditions.

On January 17, a grand jury charged William A. Warr, 26, with murder in the first and second degree in the killing. Warr had what prosecutors describe as an ongoing relationship with Miller despite an order for protection prohibiting him from having contact with her, the 4-year-old and the child’s 2-year-old brother.

The criminal complaint against Miller noted that Warr had physically assaulted her at least 100 times during their relationship, in at least once instance holding a gun and threatening to shoot her and her family, and also choking and dragging her another time.

Miller admitted to letting Warr violate the protection order, the complaint added, noting that his clothing was in a closet and his prescription pill bottles were in a medicine cabinet.

“These charges allege that Sha’reese Miller failed to protect her son from a person she knew was harming him, placing him in extreme danger by doing so, and that she failed to seek timely medical care when his life could have been saved,” County Attorney James Backstrom said in a statement.

According to the criminal complaints in the two cases:
Police and paramedics were called late in the afternoon to Miller’s townhouse on Horizon Heights Road, just off Hwy. 13, and found Key’ontay dead on his bedroom floor.

“The medics believed that [Key’ontay] had been dead for some time,” according to the complaint against Miller.

Miller, the 2-year-old and Key’ontay’s 8-month-old sister were home. Warr was the father of the 8-month-old but not of Key’ontay or his brother.

The Hennepin County medical examiner’s office found that Key’ontay died from blows to his chest and abdomen. He had bruises on his head, face, arms, chest and back and had eight broken ribs, which occurred on at least two occasions. There also was bruising on an upper thigh “consistent with an adult human bite mark,” the complaint continued.

Key’ontay’s mother told police that the boy had been complaining of stomach pain and flulike symptoms since June 6. She said he stopped breathing as she was giving him a bath to bring down his fever.

An investigator with the medical examiner’s office questioned Miller about some injuries.

When asked about bruises on Key’ontay’s head, she said his little brother hit him with a toy car.

When asked about bruises on Key’ontay chest, she said those were “skin pigmentations” that he’s had since birth.

When asked about scratches on Key’ontay’s arm, she blamed those on scratching.

Warr has admitted to police that he had physically disciplined Key’ontay but denied killing the boy.

The investigation also found that Key’ontay told a day-care worker in February 2012 and his mother in May 2013 that Warr had “whooped” him, causing visible injuries.


http://www.startribune.com/local/south/243387671.html

How family assessment failed Key'Ontay Miller-Peterson

• Article by: BRANDON STAHL , Star Tribune
  
• Updated: October 11, 2014 - 8:13 PM
  

Over and over, family members and day-care providers reported that Key’Ontay Miller-Peterson was being beaten by his mother’s violent boyfriend. Three times, social workers responded by providing family assessment, instead of opening an investigation.

Key’Ontay did not make it to his 5th birthday.

In February 2012, 3-year-old Key’Ontay told his day-care provider that his mother’s boyfriend, William Warr, beat him with a belt, juvenile court records show.

The day care also found an injury to the back of Key’Ontay’s head and reported the abuse to Hennepin County, according to records. The county responded by opening a family assessment case, despite state law that says any case of malicious punishment of a child should be investigated.


Key’Ontay’s mother, Sha’Reese Miller, denied to social workers that anyone hit him with a belt. The county closed the case.

In March 2012, the county investigated after getting a report that Warr strangled Key’Ontay’s mother in front of the child. The county found Warr responsible for child maltreatment. Later that month, Key’Ontay’s aunt reported to child protection that Warr punched the boy in the nose, according to records and interviews with the family. Records do not show how the county responded to that report.

Miller filed an order for protection against Warr at the request of the county. In October 2012, Warr pleaded guilty to felony domestic assault for beating and threatening Miller.

The county opened another family assessment case in December 2012 after getting a report that Warr shoved Key’Ontay, giving him a cut above his right eye that needed five stitches. A caseworker noted that Key’Ontay’s mother “has allowed [Warr] to continue to live in her home and physically abuse her two older children” despite the order for protection.

Key’Ontay and his family moved to Burnsville in May 2013, and the next month child protection got a report from his aunt that Warr gave the boy a black eye. Dakota County opened a family assessment case, and three days later a child-protection worker went to the home. The worker left after Key’Ontay’s mother said she hadn’t seen Warr in over a year, and saw no injuries on the children, records show.

Four days later police were called to the home on a report that 4-year-old Key’Ontay was not breathing. He was found cold to the touch with bruises all over his body and fractured ribs. He died of blunt force injuries to his abdomen. Warr faces several first-degree murder charges. Miller has been charged with manslaughter.

Mary Miller, Key’Ontay’s grandmother, and other family members say they made 25 to 30 reports that Warr was abusing Key’Ontay.

“They should have removed those kids and investigated those reports properly,” Miller said. “If they had done their jobs right, there’s a chance my grandson would be alive today.”


http://www.startribune.com/local/278908421.html

Another POS mother.  Another POS man.  Another dead precious little boy.

While it's true that the "system" failed Key’Ontay, his mother was the one who really failed him.  The family is blaming the state and ignoring the fact that his own mother not only put the little one in harm's way, she knowingly allowed her p e n i s to abuse her son, repeatedly.  She even lied to protect the monster.

Did Mary Miller talk to her daughter?  Did she try to intervene to save her grandson's life?  Even now, she is bad mouthing the state, not her murdering, evil daughter.

They both should be jailed for life.