Body of Elyjiah Hearn, 5, found in California dumpster as chilling new video released
Disturbing surveillance video from Los Angeles shows a man carrying a little body with “a head and small feet dangling” after a 5-year-old boy was found dead in a dumpster wrapped in blanket — and his mother’s ex boyfriend is now charged with murder.
Little Elyjiah Hearn was killed and dumped in a parking lot in the LA neighborhood of Panorama City, “wrapped in a multi-colored blanket,” according to a Los Angeles Police Department search warrant seen by ABC7.
Brycson Malik Gaddis, 20, pleaded not guilty to murder in court on Monday, where the judge was shown disturbing new surveillance footage of two people carrying what appears to be a small body wrapped in a blanket.
The footage from July 11 shows a man and a woman walking on the same street where Elyjiah’s body was found the following morning, with the man carrying the bundle wrapped in a blanket.
“You can see a head and small feet dangling,” Yousef Rabadi, co-owner of E&J Market and Liquor, who first posted the security footage, told ABC7.
“Some of my customers, they are the neighbors of the child, and they know that that baby was neglected and abused,” Rabadi said.
“So it had been going on for a long time, you know? And nobody… people saw something and didn’t say anything. So that’s why I took the liberty of, like, posting that video.”
Evidence of blood was found on the bathroom sink, drain, backsplash and inside a tote bag on the bed found in Gaddis’ apartment, according to the search warrant.
Elyjiah’s mother, Kemia Hearn, 24, was questioned by police but ultimately released
Outside the court on Monday, her father — Elyjiah’s grandfather, pulled out a gun in the parking lot as tensions boiled over, according to cops.
The grandfather claimed his daughter was being threatened and said he took out the weapon but didn’t point it at anyone to get people to back away, in an interview with ABC7.
Elyjiah’s loved ones set up a GoFundMe to raise money for the little boy’s funeral costs.
“Elyjah was a joyful, fun-loving child who brought light into every room he entered. He adored his family and was deeply loved in return,” the appeal reads.
“His laughter, energy, and innocent spirit touched everyone who knew him. His life was cut short far too soon, and our hearts are broken beyond words.”
Gaddis remains in jail on a $2 million bail.
Credit to Nypost AND Peoples