Toddler Dies in Hosptial; Mother And Her Boyfriend In Custody

BLOUNT COUNTY, AL — A mother and her boyfriend are in custody after an 18-month-old child was hospitalized with severe injuries while in their care. The child later died at Children's of Alabama in Birmingham.

Authorities say the boy, identified as Enzo McCormack, was gravely injured by his mother’s boyfriend when the toddler accidentally pulled the man’s chest hair. The boy’s mother, 24-year-old Samantha McCormack, and her boyfriend, 28-year-old Robert Elmore Jr., are being held without bond in the Blount County Jail.

An Alabama Media Group report said McCormack is charged with first-degree reckless assault and Elmore is charged with attempted murder.

Friday evening at Locust Fork Hardware, McCormack reportedly stopped to get gas with her unresponsive son in the vehicle. It was there that 911 was called and Blount County sheriff’s deputies and medics responded to the store, according to charging documents.

Medics said the boy was unresponsive and turning blue. They requested he be airlifted to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.

Sheriff’s Investigator Edward Hull wrote in documents that McCormack, told authorities she was home with the children while they were eating, and she went into the other room to use the bathroom. It was then, she said, she heard something fall and returned to the children to find the 18-month old was choking and had fallen. She told lawmen she cleared his mouth and he quit choking. That was about 5:40 p.m.

A little while later, she said, she noticed he wasn’t doing well so she bathed him and decided to take him to the hospital. She waited until her grandmother came from Oneonta to take care of the other kids – the victim’s twin sister and a 3-year-old brother.

McCormack told a different story earlier, claiming the child had fallen while at home.

McCormack and Elmore were interviewed multiple times. Eventually, according to records, McCormack admitted she had lied about where she was living and with whom. Deputies learned the child had been removed from McCormack’s custody on Oct. 16, 2018. A protection from abuse was obtained by McCormack against Elmore in March of 2019 and the children were returned to McCormack on June 17, 2019.

Hull noted in the charging documents that the child is a "victim of a severe battering and shaking injury. There has been no plausible accidental injury to explain his many injuries. so this is physical abuse. It would take an adult sized person to pick him up and cause these injuries. If the history is accurate, the only adults at home were mother and mother’s boyfriend. He would have been symptomatic immediately after sustaining the injuries and would not appear normal to anyone who was observing him. (The victim) is not expected to survive."

Hull interviewed Elmore again Sunday and Elmore admitted he had picked up the boy who then grabbed his chest hairs. "He lost his temper," the investigator wrote. He said he let go of the boy, who hit the play pen and then the floor. Elmore said he then picked him up and shook him because he was unresponsive.

Doctors determined the boy’s twin sister had no injuries, but said his 3-year-old brother also had bruises behind his ears and under his chin and had a skull fracture similar to his little brother’s. Elmore denied hurting the 3-year-old.

The victim’s brother has been released from the hospital Monday. He and Enzo’s twin are now in DHR custody.

Elmore has been charged with capital murder.