HOUMA, La. — “Those feelings hit deep, hit deep. I can just about imagine what Ezekiel's dad, Trey, is going through right now,” said a solemn Dana Coleman, Chief of Houma Police.
At 5:30 p.m. there will be a candlelight vigil in Houma for a two year old found dead inside a duffel bag and thrown out like trash.
WWLTV is learning more from police about the sad events that led up to the toddler's death.
“When we found Ezekiel, this lifeless child stuffed in a duffel bag, just an array of emotions that we all had,” Chief Coleman said.
Houma police are shedding light on a case that has touched even the emotions of veteran detectives.
Tuesday evening they were led, by the mother, to the lifeless body of two-year-old Ezekiel Harry, stuffed into a duffle bag and thrown in a stranger's garbage can, just a block away from the police station.
“We do suspect some physical abuse, and this is coming from one of our coroner's office investigators that based on initial observation,” Coleman said.
The toddler's mother, 28-year-old Maya Jones, and her boyfriend, 37-year-old Jermaine Robinson, are locked up and charged with first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
“There are some reports of some possible domestic violence that occurred, also some drug use,” he said.
Neighbors of the couple say about three weeks ago, police were called out for some sort of domestic disturbance.
“My brother said that he heard the day that, yesterday, he heard the voice, them screaming ‘Let me in the house,’" a young woman who lives next door said.
“Somebody had called and it was three, it was like a couple units of like the HPD,” neighbor Peter Pitre said about the squad cars that came out on the domestic disturbance call.
Police say the reason multiple law enforcement agencies searched the Intracoastal Waterway Tuesday, is because of a businesses' surveillance video that captured Jones, with her three school-age children, holding a baby carrier, walking towards the water.
Police now know that carrier was empty. The three children are in child protective services. Police talked to them yesterday.
“Distant, quiet, unbeknownst to them, one of their siblings, you know possibly died at the hands of their mother,” Coleman recalled of their demeanor.
“That's my boy. That's my boy. That's mines,” Trey Harry said. Tuesday, Ezekiel's dad, Trey Harry, waited, tears streaming down his face, for news of his missing child.
Police chief Dana Coleman, a father as well, talked to Trey after the grim and heartbreaking picture came to light.
“I offered him support. I told him, I said, ‘You got three other kids that need their dad,’” remembers the chief, who told Harry he could call any time to talk.
Police are now waiting for the results of the autopsy that was performed Wednesday afternoon.
Child protective services will determine who gets custody of the three older children who are ages five to 10 years old.