LI Homicide Detective On 5-Year-Old Boy's Slaying: 'Poor Kid Suffered'

BRENTWOOD, NY — A New Jersey mom has been charged with the murder of her five-year-old son who was found unresponsive with blunt force trauma in the apartment of her boyfriend's parents on Long Island, Suffolk homicide detectives say.

Owusu, 26, and Addae, 27, both of Orange, New Jersey, were charged with second-degree murder in the death of Owusu's son, King Owuso, according to police. A 911 caller alerted officers that King was found "unresponsive and unable to move" inside of an apartment on Leroy Avenue in Brentwood on April 1, 2021, said police, adding that the child was transported to South Shore University Hospital in Bay Shore where he was pronounced dead.

An autopsy found that Owuso suffered "blunt force trauma," according to police.

"It was all over his body," said Det. Lt. Kevin Beyrer, commanding officer of the Homicide Squad.

"This poor kid suffered."

A second child that Owuso and Addae have in common is in the custody of Suffolk County Child Protective Custody, according to Beyrer.

The couple had been living in Lefrak City, Queens at the time of the killing, said Beyrer, who would not go into details as to where the child was injured, only that it was in New York State and his death occurred in Suffolk County. He did say that there were some questions as to whether they occurred in Addae's native Republic of Ghana, where they had traveled, but that theory has since been disproven.

The visit to Ghana had caused some jurisdictional issues and "difficulty," in the case, according to Beyrer.

Police Commissioner Rodney Harrison described the child's slaying as "a heinous crime."

"The one thing I will say is it was a very long investigation," he said. "I'm so proud to be the commissioner to see how we hold people who commit evil acts and bring them to justice."

Owuso and Addae will be arraigned on Friday at Suffolk County Supreme Court in Riverhead.