Enrico Adams and the 1-year-old boy he was convicted of killing (YouTube: WTVT screenshot)
A 27-year-old man in Florida will spend the rest of his life behind bars for killing his girlfriend’s 17-month-old child, beating the little boy to death while his mother and siblings were at the laundromat. A jury in Tampa on Monday found Enrico Adams guilty on one count of first-degree murder while engaged in the commission of a felony and one count of aggravated child abuse resulting in great bodily harm, authorities announced.
According to a probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime, the child’s mother at about 11:10 a.m. on Dec. 1, 2019, called 911 to report that her 1-year-old son was unresponsive in his crib. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders initiated CPR and noted that the child had “slightly pink” mucus coming from his nose and was “cold to the touch and had rigor [mortis] in his limbs.”
Emergency medical personnel transported the victim to Tampa General Hospital where he was pronounced dead on arrival. While there were no obvious signs of trauma initially noted on the victim’s intake, photos taken by hospital staffers showed that the victim had “a distended (bloated) abdomen and a circular shaped bruise on his lower back,” police wrote. The child’s remains were taken to the medical examiner’s office for an autopsy.
In interviews with the victim’s mother, whose name is not included in the report, she told police that her son was acting normal the previous day, Saturday, Nov. 30, 2019, until she left at about 5 p.m., taking her older children with her to the laundromat. She left the victim at home in the care of Adams, her boyfriend.
When she returned home at about 7 p.m. the previous evening, Adams told her that the victim had been fed, bathed, and put to bed in his crib. She did not check on him again until the following morning.
Adams told police a similar story, adding that he was the one who found the child unresponsive in his crib the following morning. He said that when he went into the victim’s room, the child was already dead and indicated that “upon lifting the victim, his arms stayed in the same position.”
“The mother indicated that her baby was too cold to put against her skin,” the affidavit states.
The autopsy determined that the victim died from “massive injuries sustained to his internal organs due to blunt force trauma” and the manner of death was ruled a homicide.
“The victim had lacerations in his pancreas, mesentery and renal vessels as well as fractures to his spine and pelvis in addition to other internal injuries,” police wrote. “The injuries had to have been sustained by either his abdomen or back being against a hard surface and suffering hard blow to the opposite side.”
Adams confirmed to investigators that he was the only other person with the child after the mother went to the laundromat.
Prosecutors also showed jurors surveillance footage from outside of the apartment complex, which showed Adams “roughly handling the victim” as he walked home.
Following his conviction, Adams faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
“It is difficult to comprehend how anyone could harm a defenseless, innocent child,” 13th Judicial District State Attorney Suzy Lopez said in a statement following the verdict. “I am proud of our prosecution team for ensuring this monster will live the rest of his life in prison thinking about the life he viciously stole. My heart is with the victim’s mother and family as they process their unimaginable grief.”
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