COOK COUNTY CRIMINAL COURTHOUSE — The man accused of viciously beating his pregnant fiancee for trying to intervene as he murdered the couple's 3-year-old son last year was charged Tuesday with killing the couple's daughter.
The children's mother was eight months pregnant with the girl in late October when father Devon Thomas, 22, punched and stomped to death 3-year-old Tayveon Thomas inside the family's West Pullman home, prosecutors said.
Thomas became so enraged when the mother tried to intervene in the attack that he knocked her into a wall, dragged her by her hair and choked the woman until she lost consciousness, prosecutors said.
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The 23-year-old woman delivered baby Janylah Thomas via an emergency C-section Nov. 1. The girl was born deaf and blind; she had traumatic brain injuries that led to seizures and "severe developmental delays," Assistant State's Attorney Jamie Santini said during a bond hearing Tuesday.
Janylah remained hospitalized until she died March 2 due to complications from the attack on her mother while she was pregnant, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office. Her death was ruled a homicide.
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Thomas, 22, now faces first-degree murder charges in the deaths of two of his children. He also is charged with aggravated battery against his fiancee, and has been held without bail since November.
"You are a dangerous individual," Cook County Judge Adam Bourgeois Jr. told Thomas in court Tuesday. "You will be held without bail."
The Department of Children and Family Services announced earlier this month it was investigating the children's mother for allegations of neglect in the deaths of both Tayveon and Janylah. A 1-year-old sibling was taken into DCFS care after Tayveon's murder last year.
According to prosecutors, it all started Oct. 29, 2016, when the children's mother saw Thomas beating 3-year-old Tayveon inside the couple's home in the 12000 block of South Green Street, Santini said.
The mother tried to intervene, and Thomas choked her until she blacked out, authorities said.
On Oct. 31, the mother heard Tayveon scream in pain and once more tried to intervene when she found Thomas punching Tayveon in his chest, stomach and torso, Santini said. Thomas is accused of stomping on the boy's legs, arms and body.
It was at this point Thomas slapped his fiancee so hard that she was knocked into a wall, prosecutors said. He then grabbed the woman by her hair and dragged her into another room, prosecutors said.
When the mother was able to check on Tayveon, prosecutors said, she found him face down and unresponsive. She tried to perform CPR, but the boy was ultimately pronounced dead at Roseland Hospital at 1:15 p.m. Oct. 31.
A few hours later, prosecutors said, the mother was taken to a hospital with abdominal pain. Doctors realized the woman's placenta had been detached and ruptured; her daughter was delivered via an emergency C-section Nov. 1.
In a videotaped statement, Thomas admitted to punching and kicking Tayveon because he believed the boy had defecated in Thomas' bedroom, prosecutors said. Tayveon had fresh cuts on his face and scalp, abdominal internal bleeding, right and left lung contusions, an old fracture in his left arm and scars from a previous burn on his body, Santini said.
According to his public defender, Thomas is a high school graduate who most recently worked installing marble countertops.
