Neighbors of dead tot say they had no idea abuse happened

April 15, 2011

tonight we hear from the next- door neighbor of the man accused of abusing a toddler to death. it's one of the worst cases of child abuse state investigators say they've seen. jeremy jojola has been on the story all day. he's live on louisiana near gibson with more from neighbors who say they had no idea what was happening. the word that comes to mind when reading through this police report is "torture" cigarette burns, a hot lamp placed on skin......a two year old boy now dead.. "i think they should be put away for a long time and not be able to be around children that's for sure." "oh it breaks my heart i'm so sad for that little baby. i can't think that somebody in a million years would hurt a child." "this just poppod out of nowhere so i was shocked by him" neighbors expressing anger about the death of a two-year-old little boy at this apartment complex near louisiana and gibson. casey james says he knows the main suspect--- domenic howe--a 27-year- old. they hung out and he often saw the little boy who police say was severely abused by howe. "yeah i see him all the time...i see him playing outside with my other neighbor and he rides a scooter." on his facebook page, we found images showing what appeared to be a happy man. now howe is a suspect for abusing the boy.. who is his girlfriend's child... the mother --elizabeth martinez ...was also arrested. police say howe confessed to abusing the boy 20 times since december...that includes putting a hot-lamp on the boys chest and hitting him with a vaccuum. police also say the boy had cigarette burns on his hands and that his private parts were damaged. paramedics picked up the toddler last night at the complex on a drowning call..when howe called 911 saying the boy started gagging in the bathtub .... the boy passed away at the hospital.. neighbors are disgusted. "i'd kill him..i think i would have..but can't say nothing now ..it's too late." two other children in the home are now in state custody--they are being check to see if they were abused. in the mean time---we looked into howe's record along with his girlfriend... no past cases of abuse. cyfd says it doesn't have any record of this couple either