HOUMA, La. — Friday will make two years two-year-old Ezekiel Harry was snatched from this world. His mother and her boyfriend are accused of beating the child to death and then putting his body in a trash bin.
Cynthia Harry says her two-year-old grandson was a ball of energy. "He used to go up to everybody, give them a hug, and want to play with them; he was a very playful child."
She went on to say, "He was a real fun kid, laughing." She says his positive toddler self was always toddling around her home.
"I used to have him like every weekend. He used to come over... I was used to waking up in the morning and seeing him run around and grab my keys and play with my keys, shine a light, come knock on my door in the morning, calling my name, he would run in the kitchen and play with my pots," Harry said.
Until he wasn't there anymore, police say his mother, Maya Jones, and her live-in boyfriend, Jermaine Robinson, murdered him in July of 2022. Police said Jones initially reported her son had been abducted but inconsistencies in her story led police to suspect foul play. Investigators say Ezekiel was found dead in a Houma trash bin and died from severe blunt-force trauma to the head.
Family friend and founder of HOPE—Help Other People Endure—Michael Willis says we need to do better in protecting our neighbors as a community. "I can't see how they're going to shake back from this. Every day is a memory of little Ezekiel," he said.
"We have to stop being so defensive and tell everyone to mind their own damn business 'cause sometimes minding your own damn business is a death at your household," Willis said.
State lawmakers passed Ezekiel’s Law, aimed at reforming how child abuse cases are handled in Louisiana. Willis hopes this will prevent anything like this from happening ever again. He said, "We have a long way to go... When do we use a sense of urgency to start addressing these things and making sure we stop letting anyone drop the ball on our youth."
There will be a vigil for Ezekiel at his gravesite at Moses Baptist Cemetery in Thibodaux at 5:20 p.m. on July 12th.
Jones and Robinson are expected to appear in court later this month for a motions hearing. Their trials are expected to start in mid-August.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
