A 40‑year‑old Washington, D.C., man has been charged with murder after allegedly fatally beating a two‑month‑old girl in a jealous rage. Prosecutors say the infant, Khamyah Honesty, was killed by Demetrius Beatty, who then tried to blame the injuries on his six‑year‑old autistic son.
Police were called to an apartment on New Jersey Avenue at about 9:45 p.m. on Aug. 16. They found Beatty holding the unresponsive infant. The baby was unconscious with facial bruising, head trauma and bleeding in her eyes. She was pronounced dead at Children’s National Hospital the next morning. A forensic pathologist confirmed severe fractures to the forehead, back of the head and beneath the chin, ruling the injuries non‑accidental and impossible for a young child to inflict.
Prosecutors say Beatty killed the infant out of resentment because the children were fathered by another man while he and the mother were in a relationship. He had threatened the mother eight days before the incident, warning that he would kill the children if she left them with him. In a 911 call made from a neighbor’s phone, Beatty claimed his autistic son had fought the baby and caused the damage, and later could not even spell the infant’s name.
Beatty was arrested on Sept. 16 and denied pre‑trial release after a prior probation revocation. The D.C. Child and Family Services Agency took custody of the four surviving children. Officers described the apartment as filthy and cluttered, with stained walls, piles of laundry and burnt aluminum foil floating in a toilet. Beatty is scheduled to appear in court again on Sept. 28.
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