Husband testifies against wife charged with murdering toddler

From KJAS

by Steve W Stewart

"She did it, "she killed my son."  Those were the words of Leo Desormeaux IV on the stand in the Jasper County district courtroom on Tuesday afternoon. Prosecutor Steve Hollis surprised the courtroom when he called the 28 year old Evadale father to testify in the capital murder case against his 21 year old wife, Crystal.

Leo Desormeaux IV is also under indictment for capital murder in the case.  His trial date has not yet been set.

Leo testified that on December 9th, 2007 he was in a bedroom in their mobile home while Crystal was on the other side of the house in the bathroom with Triston while he was in the bathtub. Leo said he heard very loud banging noises and went into the bathroom to find Crystal with his 20 month old son who was unresponsive and not breathing.

Leo said he tried CPR with no success; however, he had no explanation as to why he never called 911. Leo said he placed the child's body in a closet, then on a couch, and finally in a bed where the dead child lay for 13 hours until the next day.

Meanwhile, Beaumont pathologist Dr. Tommy Brown testified that Triston's body was covered from head to toe with numerous bruises and abrasions, and he said that the cause of death was blunt force trauma to the back of the head. Dr. Brown said he also found a subdural hematoma which is evidence of shaken baby syndrome, and he said in his opinion the child died from what he called "shaken baby impact".

Photos were shown to jurors of the child both in the house and later during an autopsy. Crystal began crying and had to regain her composure before the trial resumed.

During his questioning of Leo, Hollis pointed out that investigators discovered that there were five Christmas stockings hanging in the house, including one for the dog, but there was not one for Triston. Leo said Crystal did not want one for Triston and she routinely called the child "idiot."

Testimony will continue on Wednesday morning.