Young child dead; stepfather, mother arrested for child cruelty

CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. - A mother and stepfather of a 4-year-old Clayton County child are behind bars charged with child cruelty. That young child has died. Arrest records show the stepfather is accused of beating the toddler and the mother allegedly not doing anything to stop it.

Clayton County police will not answer any questions about this case because it's an open investigation, but the case is spelled out in arrest warrants for Dontavious Carter and Shronda Parks. The records show how Dedrick, who family members call DJ, ended up dead.

WATCH: Neighbors are shocked to hear about the death of little DJ

According to arrest warrants, DJ's stepfather Dontavious Carter beat the child because he could not count to 15. Carter told authorities he was harder on DJ because he was a boy.

The warrants go on to state taht Carter told detectives that for approximately 30 minutes he hit DJ multiple times with a belt. And that he also struck DJ in the chest a few times with an open hand.

Parks told investigators she did not like to be in the same room with Carter while he was whooping her child.

The warrant go on to state that the amount of injuries caused by Carter contributed to the juvenile becoming non responsive. The Georgia Bureau of Investigation has not yet finished the autopsy report, so the cause and manner of death were not available Thursday.

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