Keshan Darrel Allen, 29, of Athens made his first appearance in court Thursday afternoon since his arrest Tuesday, May 16. Allen is charged with aggravated child abuse and felony murder in the death of his girlfriend’s 2-year-old son. Judge R. Gray West ordered Allen to be held without bond and his charges bound over to the Limestone County Grand Jury.

District Attorney Brian Jones questioned Athens Police Department Detective Sgt. Kelly Fussell about the events leading to Allen’s arrest. Fussell testified that on Friday, May 12, a 911 call was placed from Oakleaf Apartments at 10:24 a.m. in regard to an unresponsive child. APD and medical responders arrived on scene within 10 minutes and found the unresponsive toddler. The child was taken to Athens Limestone Hospital where he died later that same afternoon.

Allen had told officers that the child was placed in the shower after using the bathroom in his pants. As he went to retrieve a new diaper, Allen said he heard what sounded like the child falling. He then told officers that he found the boy unresponsive in the tub and, not knowing proper CPR, began punching him in hopes of reviving him.

The child’s body was sent to the Alabama Department of Forensic Science for autopsy. The death was ruled to have been caused by blunt forced trauma.

Fussell was present for the autopsy and described seeing “a lot of blood in the abdominal cavity and obvious hemorrhaging.” The child also had a lacerated liver and his collarbone was broken. Fussell asked the examiner if the injuries could be caused by lifesaving measures and was told “absolutely not.” Absent was any bruising to the head one might expect from a fall in the shower or tub.

Detectives, including Fussell, questioned Allen again after the autopsy findings. Allen admitted to punching the 2-year-old in the stomach and grabbing his shoulder to put him in corner as discipline for the bathroom accident. The child then had another accident which led to Allen placing him the shower.

An eyewitness to the incident was the 4-year-old sibling of the deceased. She was taken to Limestone County Child Advocacy Center for a forensic interview where she described Allen striking the 2-year-old on his back prior to putting him in the shower.

Allen is believed to have been in Athens only three weeks after previously living in Michigan and California. His criminal history consists of several gun charges in California with references to possible gang activity. The mother of the two children was not at home at the time of the incident.

In his order, West stated, “To start, there is no offense more serious in nature than this, where it is alleged that the defendant beat a 2-year-old child to death. The punishment warranted for such a crime bears no comparison to any other non-capital offense. In addition to the allegations, the court heard sworn testimony from the lead investigating officer on the case, Detective Kelly Fussell.

“What’s clear from the evidence presented is that the child died from internal injuries caused by blunt force trauma. It was not a drowning. It was not a seizure. It was not any other independent cause. The child was beaten to death. What’s also clear from the evidence is that the only adult present in the home when these injuries were inflicted upon this child was the defendant, Keshan Darrel Allen. As if it weren’t obvious enough, the defendant admitted to Detective Fussell to administering discipline on the child just prior to his death by grabbing him by the shoulder and punching him in the stomach. The weight of the evidence against the defendant could not be stronger.

“Finally, if anyone could be considered a flight risk, it would absolutely be this defendant. The court received evidence that the defendant has been in the state of Alabama for no more than three weeks. He has no ties to this community, no job and no family here. In fact, the evidence suggests that he has ties to the states of Michigan and California.”