SEATTLE — A mother and her boyfriend remain in custody Tuesday in connection to the death of her 4-year-old son.
They were scheduled to appear in court for the first time Tuesday afternoon, but both the 23-year-old mother and her 20-year-old boyfriend waived their court appearances.
A judge found probable cause for second-degree murder and set bail for the couple at $500,000.
“I miss the hell out of you, I think of you all the time,” said Michael Fredericks, still trying to wrap his head around the loss of his 4-year-old grandson KJ. “He was my sidekick, I couldn’t go anywhere without him, if I tried to go somewhere, he had to go, there were no ands, ifs or buts about it.”
On Sunday night, firefighters and police responded to a Queen Anne apartment off of Olympic Place, to find KJ unresponsive. Police said the boy had a traumatic injury to his head.
Police arrested KJ’s 23-year-old mother and her 20-year-old boyfriend. Fredericks is the stepfather of the mother, and has taken care of KJ for extended periods of time.
“I don’t want it to be murder, I just don’t,” said Fredericks. “That’s just unconscionable.”
Despite both suspects waiving their court appearances on Tuesday, one woman was there in person. She didn’t want to share her name but said she used to be neighbors with KJ’s mother and would have KJ come over for playdates with her daughter. She said she believes this tragedy could’ve been prevented.
“There’s too many children dying here, there’s too many children who are dying at the hands of adults,” the neighbor said.
Meanwhile, Fredericks just wishes he had his sidekick with him to go on one final ride.
“His biggest thing was roll with papa in the truck, you know the wheels on the truck go round and round, we used to sing that in the truck, the wheels in the truck go round and round all over town,” he said.