GUILTY MO - Zayquon Hammond, 23 mos, beaten to death, Kansas City, 31 Jan 2005

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/10811369.htm?1c

Monique Hightower is five months pregnant with her fiance's baby. But she never wants to see her fiance again, much less marry him, after what happened this week.

Her 23-month-old son died. Her fiance was accused of killing the boy. Her life fell apart.

“I don't want to ask him why or how,” Hightower, 24, said Thursday. “There's no excuse. It's not going to bring my baby back.”

Wiss Held On $500,000

POSTED: 9:37 pm CST February 1, 2005
UPDATED: 6:19 pm CST February 2, 2005

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Jackson County prosecutors charged a man Wednesday in the death of a 23-month-old boy.

Monique Hightower said she left her son, Zaquan Hammond, in the care of her boyfriend while she went to work Monday. When she returned home to her apartment Tuesday morning, she found her son dead.

Police took both adults into custody. Hightower was released. Ryan T. Wiss, 21, was charged with second-degree murder.

Wiss told detectives that he took the boy out to dinner Monday and when they returned to the apartment in the 900 block of East 26th Street, Zaquan was being difficult. According to court documents, Wiss allegedly said he was "frustrated" with the child and hit and kneed him in the stomach because he wasn't walking fast enough up the stairs.

"I don't think this death was instant. I think it happened over a period of time," prosecutor Ted Hunt said.

...Zaquan Hammond would have turned 2 years old on Feb. 9.

Photo of suspect & video

Another senseless murder of a baby. Please keep us updated.

From April 2006:

http://cjonline.com/stories/040406/bre_toddlerdeath.shtml#.Vdvy3CxViko

A man charged in the death of his girlfriend's 23-month old son pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child.

Ryan T. Wiss, 22, of Pittsburg, Kan., was sentenced in Jackson County Circuit Court by Senior Judge Carl Gum to life in prison. Wiss must serve more than 25 years before he is eligible for parole.

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