Defendant Also Indicted for Beating the Infant’s Mother
Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a Bronx man has been
indicted on Murder and Manslaughter charges in the death of his six-week-old son.
District Attorney Clark said, “The defendant had complete disregard for the life of his infant
son and allegedly killed him by smothering him with a pillow. We will hold him accountable for
the death of this six-week-old defenseless child named Kaseem. The defendant is also charged
with assaulting Kaseem’s mother last year while she was pregnant with him.”
District Attorney Clark said the defendant, Teshawn Watkins, 27, of 3642 Holland Avenue,
was arraigned today on two counts of second-degree Murder, first and second-degree
Manslaughter, two counts of Criminal Obstruction of Breathing or Blood Circulation, first-degree
Reckless Endangerment, Attempted Assault in the second degree, Endangering the Welfare of a
Child and third-degree Assault before Bronx Supreme Court Justice George Villegas. The
defendant was remanded and is due back in court on May 20, 2020.
According to the investigation, in the early morning of January 29, 2020, the defendant
was in the apartment he shared with his girlfriend, Celicia Reyes, and their three children when
his six-week-old son, Kaseem Watkins, began to cry. The defendant allegedly became irate with
the baby’s crying and placed pillows on the infant, blocking his nose and mouth. The defendant
went back to sleep and when he woke up, he saw the infant unconscious. The mother called 911
and the child wastaken to Montefiore Medical Center where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy
report revealed the child died of asphyxia due to smothering.
According to the investigation, the defendant allegedly placed pillows over Kaseem’s head
on at least one other occasion prior to the fatal incident, sometime between December 9, 2019
and January 29, 2020. Video from a baby monitor camera allegedly shows Watkins grabbing
Kaseem by the head and spinning his head, causing the child’s body to flail into the air, and then
covering the baby with pillows. Another video allegedly shows the defendant smothering and
punching Reyes inside their home on October 27, 2019, while she was pregnant with Kaseem.
District Attorney Clark also thanked
Detective Robert Regnier of the 47th Precinct and Detective Sean Butler of the Bronx Homicide
Squad.
An indictment is an accusatory instrument and not proof of a defendant’s guilt.
