GRIEF, BLAME AT BOY’S FUNERAL

A 10 year old New Jersey boy used a baseball bat to fatally beat a 3 year old boy he dragged out of a library and sexually assaulted before dumping his body in a drainage ditch.  Little Amir Beeks was at the Henry Inman Library in the Colonia section of Woodbridge, New Jersey, with relatives March 26 when the 10 year old, who he didn't know, forced him from the building and launched his grisly attack around 4:25 p.m.  Amir was found lying face down in a ditch 35 minutes later.  The 10 year old is charged with murder, felony murder, kidnapping, illegal weapons possession and aggravated sexual assault.  Because of his age, the boy cannot be charged as an adult.  The murder charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years, but he could be locked up even longer if sentences for the other charges were imposed consecutively.  

The boy was violent with other kids in the past and regularly terrorized his neighborhood during nighttime escapes from his troubled home, neighbors said.  He would throw glass and rocks at cars, at homes and at dogs up to the point where even the dogs hated him, said Dawn Nugent, 35, who was a home attendant for the boy's blind father.  She said the suspected killer showed signs of trouble last year, when he was caught trying to strangle a small boy in a park near the library.  Another local woman said in 2001 he bashed her son over the head with a shovel.

Anguished mourners erupted in grief and anger at the funeral for Amir.  The church service unraveled into chaos as his sister, Krystal Singelton, sobbed over his coffin and another mourner blamed her for failing to prevent his abduction.  She was with Amir at the library but became distracted and lost sight of him.  

(New Jersey)