After his 12-year-old son’s body was discovered in his house malnourished, covered in maggots, weighing 54 pounds, and with two broken limbs, the Wisconsin father faces decades in prison.
Based on online court documents, Romuan J. Moye, 45, received a 47 ½-year jail sentence for the death of his son, Jackie Robinson. He admitted to being guilty of first-degree reckless homicide, persistent child neglect, and failing to report a child’s death.
Local Fox station WITI reported from the courtroom that Milwaukee County Circuit Court Judge Laura Crivello deemed it the worst case she had ever seen.
“The offences are the stuff of a horror movie,” Crivello said. “In my 30 years, the most vicious and aggravated thing I have ever seen.”
Just over four months after the victim’s brother discovered Jacarie’s body at Moye’s home in an “advanced state of decomposition,” Moye was arrested in February, as Law&Crime reported.
After months of seeking, investigators stated in an interview with Milwaukee CBS station WDJT that they were able to find Moye for interrogation thanks to an apparently small tip from an “outside source.”
“What we thought was maybe a really small investigative lead for us, so something that we thought was maybe really small, ended up pointing us in the right direction,” Thomas Kotnik of the Milwaukee Police Department’s Special Investigation Fugitive Apprehension Division told the station. “There’s a lot of people that had a lot of questions over the last couple of months about what we were doing, how come he hasn’t been found yet; so, I think this is a step in the right direction — makes everyone feel a bit better.”
Moye essentially “disappeared” after Jacarie’s death was found, according to Detective Mike Driscoll, who spoke with the station.
“He left the house that night and had not been seen since,” he said. “This is a dad who wouldn’t give his child food, for discipline. It’s incredibly sad.”
On October 10, at about 6:15 p.m., members of the City of Milwaukee Police Department responded to a report of a “dead on entry” at an apartment building located in the 4100 block of North Elmhurst Road. A probable cause affidavit states that the caller informed the emergency operator that a 12-year-old child who had died was inside the property.
When first responders arrived, they found the caller, who introduced himself as Moye’s 22-year-old son, JM according to court records.
He reported to the police that his three younger brothers, who are now ages 12, 15, and 17, used to share a flat with Moye. However, he said that during the past few weeks, the older kids had been living with their mother, while “JR,” the youngest, continued to be looked after by Moye.
Police records state that JM told police he had visited his father a few days prior and saw that he was acting “abnormally” and “repeatedly taking deep breaths,” but he denied ever going inside the flat. JM said to police he went back to the flat on October 10 to see how Moye was doing and to let himself in when Moye didn’t answer the door since his father was still acting strangely.
“JM went into the residence and looked around but nobody was home. JM went back into the residence to look for some belongings that were important to the Defendant,” the affidavit states. “As JM entered the living room, JM noticed a foot protruding from covers on the living room floor. JM immediately yelled out because JM knew it was JR’s body. JM pulled the cover back and observed JR’s face in an advanced state of decomposition with maggots present.”
“I don’t even know how to f—— feel right now,” a “lost” and “confused” JM told police after finding his younger brother “in a state of decay.”
JM reported to the authorities that Moye had told them he “does not have long to live” and that he had received a cancer diagnosis, adding that it had spread in the previous few months.
According to JM’s report to the police, Moye had been keeping the victim “away from the family” for the past few months because the youngster had been “acting really bad.” JM last remembered seeing his younger brother alive on August 19, which was also the boy’s birthday. He remembered thinking, “Damn, what the f— is JR eating?” when he saw how “extremely skinny” JR appeared.
Moye was also called a “harsh punisher” by JM, but he “did not use physical punishment often.” According to reports, Moye had informed the victim’s mother that her daughter had recently started behaving up and “stealing food.”
Investigators were informed by the victim’s 15-year-old sister that her father “punishes” the victim for stealing food.
“The Defendant will pop JR or whoop JR,” police wrote in the affidavit, citing their interview with the child.
After taking over the scene, homicide investigators reported that “there was an overwhelming smell of mould, faeces, and decay” when they first entered Moye’s house.
“The kitchen had a large pile of garbage located in the centre of the floor. The kitchen table was covered in garbage. The kitchen sink was covered in what appeared to be mould,” police wrote.
“There was moulded food on the counters of the kitchen. The refrigerator appeared to be functional but was filled with moulded food. The bathroom was filled with garbage and the toilet was filled with human feces. The vanity sink and shower were covered in mould.”
The victim’s decomposing body was described by detectives as looking “extremely malnourished,” and they also saw that “maggots covered his face and mouth.”
The victim’s right humerus was found to have been fractured recently during an autopsy; the break was described as “very large” and “in an irregular pattern for a fracture.” Two ribs that were mending at the time of the victim’s death appeared to be shattered, as did the left humerus.
At the time of the autopsy, the body weighed a mere 54 pounds.
