How could someone ...? Somebody needs to be Horse Whipped! St. Louis toddler found dead in trash bin was beaten, police say

ST. LOUIS • An 18-month-old boy found in a trash bin this morning after his family reported him missing had been assaulted, police said. 

The boy was found atop a trash bag covered or partially wrapped in a jacket in an alley trash bin in the 2300 block of South Jefferson Avenue, police said.

Police this afternoon identified the boy as Marquell Jackson. Preliminary autopsy results showed the child suffered blunt trauma over much of his body from being beaten.

The case has been reclassified as a homicide, police said. Police were questioning relatives and neighbors but had made no arrests late Wednesday.

"It's tragic the child was tossed in the trash Dumpster like that," said St. Louis Police Capt. Michael Sack. "It's unconscionable that anybody would do that."

The child was reported missing at about 6:15 a.m. Wednesday and found in the trash bin near the apartment about 30 minutes later, police sad.

Sack, the police captain, told reporters at the scene that when police arrived at the family's house, there were no signs of a break-in. Officers found three relatives at the home, searched it, then fanned out to the neighborhood and alley before finding him in the trash bin.

Sack said there was no obvious trauma to the boy to explain why he died. Although one man was taken away in handcuffs, police spokeswoman Erica Van Ross said that was done because the man was upset and police wanted to calm him down. That man was not a relative of the boy, Van Ross said.

Wayne Ross, 32, of St. Louis, who was joined by relatives outside the apartment building Wednesday, said he is the toddler's uncle and that his sister, Melissa Jackson, 28, is the boy's mother.

Ross said his nephew was Jackson's only child and that she is pregnant. He described the boy as "a very happy baby" who "loved to smile and play."

Ross said he didn't know what happened Wednesday morning and only saw his sister as police led her off to police headquarters for questioning. He said the boy's father lived elsewhere.

Frank Elliott, who owns the four-family flat where the boy had lived, said the boy lived there with his mother only. They moved in in September. He declined to identify the family but said he's never had a problem with them. He called them nice people.

"It's shocking," Elliott said. "I just can't even imagine."

The trash bin is no more than 100 feet from the rear of the property Elliott owns.

Just south of the alley appears to be a three-story warehouse. Apartments about a half-block away are on the corner of Jefferson and Shenandoah Avenue.

A neighbor, Sandra Compton, said she would often walk by the home and see the boy and his mother sitting on the front porch together.

Compton, 21, said the boy was always smiling. When she walked by, Compton would say, "Hi handsome" to the boy.

"Whoever did this (is) ... so wrong," Compton said.

Kim Bell of the Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.

via stltoday.com