A father has been accused of killing his own son before blaming the two-month-old child’s injuries on an “allergic reaction”.
Demari Alston, 27, has been charged with one count of capital murder of a victim under 10 years of age in Houston, Texas. Trinity Nyomi Perez, the boy’s 22-year-old mother, is facing a felony charge of injury to a child.
According to court records, their son Zayn was severely injured in July, 2024, suffering a fractured arm, clavicle and ribs when he was just ten days old.
As a result he was placed in the care of his maternal great-grandmother and from that point on the parents were not allowed to spend the night with him and instead would visit during the day.
Two months later on September 9, Zayn was admitted to Memorial Hermann Hospital after suffering a skull fracture, a brain bleed and retinal hemorrhaging. The baby was placed in critical care before being pronounced dead two days later.
Perez later told authorities her son had been injured the day before he was taken to hospital, while her boyfriend was upstairs in the apartment with the child.
Alston told her he had tripped while holding Zayn, court documents say, but he “didn’t think they had anything to worry about as he did not cry and was still responsive”.
Perez told investigators she did not believe Alston was causing abusive injuries to their son and described him as a “good dad”.
When Zayn was taken to hospital, his father said his son’s injuries could have been caused by an “allergic reaction because everything started to swell,” the court documents show.
Police said they discovered internet searches on Alston’s iPhone which included “2-month old baby hard to wake up” and “What happens if your 2-month-old doesn’t have a pulse?”
Other searches included “”my 2-month-old died is anyone getting charged” and “best Houston defense lawyers child abuse cases”.
Alston’s iPhone also had a deleted Google search “how to pass a lie detector test”, dated on September 10 when Zayn was still in hospital, according to the court documents.
Zayn’s autopsy revealed that the two-month-old had suffered at least four traumatic events of blunt force trauma before his death. Ruling his death a homicide, the cause was given as multiple blunt force injuries to the head, torso and extremities.
Alston is currently being held at the Harris County Detention Center on a $2 million bond, while Perez’s bond has been set at $250,000.
