GARY, Ind. — A man has been charged with murder for allegedly beating a two-year-old boy to death Monday in Gary.
Ricky Larkin, 32, of Matteson, is accused of killing Je’Loni Smith after police arrived to a home in the 300 block of Arthur Street in Gary.
According to court documents, police were dispatched to a suspected drowning but Smith was not wet and there was only eight inches of water in the bathtub. The two-year-old was pronounced dead at the hospital.
The responding officer told detectives Larkin told him that the boy had drowned in the bathtub.
The officer noted that a bed appeared in disarray and there was a dried brown stain with chunks on the bed. A small aluminum baseball bat nearby was collected for evidence and authorities said it was “placed conspicuously” next to the bed.
Detectives interviewed the mother of the boy, who told them that she suffered a drug overdose the day prior and was hospitalized. She stated that Larkin is her “on again, off again” boyfriend who comes and goes from her residence.
The mother told police that Smith is not his child and he allegedly does not feed or bathe the children when he is at the home. The day of the alleged murder, she received a call from him telling her to “get the kids because he had stuff to do,” according to court documents.
It’s unknown if she was still hospitalized at that time.
Larkin was then interviewed by a Gary detective and claimed that Smith drowned after he stepped out of the bathroom for “two to three minutes.” He said that Smith bit down on his lip as Larkin was performing CPR on him.
Larkin continued to deny that he had hit Smith. When pressed that the boy’s injuries were not consistent with what he was claiming, he told the detective that he had done a lot of “dirt in his life” and that the incident was “karma,” documents state.
Authorities wrote in court documents that Larkin asked the detective several questions about the autopsy of the boy.
The detective alleges that he listened to a call from the Lake County Jail in which Larkin admitted to being high on drugs and stated that he was the only adult in the home, documents state.
No bail has been set for Larkin, according to records.
