Father charged with murder in 4-year-old daughter’s death, Fort Worth police say
Police have arrested a father suspected of beating his 4-year-old daughter to death.
Zianne Essix died in Fort Worth of homicidal violence on Feb. 18, according to the Tarrant County Medical Examiner’s Office. The death is being investigated by the Fort Worth Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit.
Police picked up Zianne’s father, Rekeem L. Dory, 25, in Waco on Wednesday after the issuance of a probable cause arrest warrant affidavit on a charge of capital murder of a person under 10 years old.
A $1 million bond has been recommended, police said.
Dory, who had trained as a boxer, told police that he gained custody of his daughter after Zianne’s mother was arrested in Waco in January 2019 and put in jail on three counts of child endangerment, according to authorities.
According to published reports, the girl’s mother was arrested on three counts of endangering a child after police in Waco did a welfare check in her home and found three children living in an apartment filled with broken and dirty dishes and animal feces, a kwtx.com story said.
Attempts to contact Pauline Essix or her attorney of record, Christopher King, were unsuccessful on Wednesday.
The father called 911 in Fort Worth on Feb 17 and told the dispatcher that his daughter was having a seizure and that her lips were turning blue, according to police.
When first responders arrived at a residence in the 1000 block of Bessie Street, they immediately began performing CPR, and took the child to Cook Children’s Medical Center, where she was listed in critical condition until she died the next day, according to authorities.
Bruised all over
Dory told police that Zianne had fallen from a slide in her playroom that morning, but medical professionals found bruises all over the girl’s body that were not consistent with a fall from a slide of about 2-feet, 4-inches, police said.
Medical professionals reported bruises to Zianne’s neck, jaw, back, legs, arms, buttocks, upper right thigh, on four areas of her forehead, between her left eye and nose, on her right upper eyelid and around her left ear and left shoulder, in front of and behind the joint, according to the affidavit. Non-specific bruising on the tops of Zianne’s feet, her shins, knees and elbows, was also noted, the affidavit said.
The father told police that he believed his daughter was fine and put a cold compress to her head. Zianne and her half-sister, 2, were supposed to help clean, but Dory said Zianne was not helping enough and he “gave her a whipping,” striking her six times with a belt, and then put her in time out in the playroom, according to the warrant.
The father described two potty training-related accidents to police, which Dory said he cleaned up and then put Zianne to bed, the warrant says. During the night on Feb. 16, Dory said, he and his wife heard Zianne scream, ran into her room and found her in bed with her lips turning blue next to her sleeping half-sister.
Child Protective Investigations is investigating the child’s death alongside police. Zianne’s 2-year-old half-sister was ordered into the state’s legal custody on Feb. 17 and has been placed with a relative.
During a search of the residence, police found bloodstains in the apartment playroom and bathroom. A search of a cell phone uncovered a recording of a phone call in which Dory said, “Me and Zianne didn’t see eye-to-eye, almost never. I never really had that type of connection that I connected with her like that. I really didn’t,” according to the warrant.
A Feb. 14 video showed no bruising on Zianne, the affidavit said.
Maybe he whipped her too hard
Dory’s wife told police during an interview that she and her 2-year-old daughter went visiting earlier on the day that Zianne went to the hospital, according to the warrant. About 8:30 p.m., she got a call from Dory, who seemed annoyed, the affidavit said. Dory told her that Zianne had soiled herself, and she said she would buy her some new underwear, the affidavit said.
When Dory’s wife got home, she said she expected Zianne to run out to meet her, but she was met by Dory, who said that Zianne had another accident and would need another bath. Later, Dory told her that Zianne had slipped on a wet spot on the floor and that she was “OK.”
Dory’s wife said she later believed that Zianne was in the playroom but did not insist on seeing her because “she did not want to get into it with Rekeem” and that she thought he was being weird.
Later that night Dory’s wife said she heard a cry, but believed it to be her 2-year-old daughter. Some time passed before Dory’s wife went into the bedroom to check and that’s when she saw Zianne’s lips, which had turned blue. Dory’s wife told police she yelled for him to call 911 and began CPR.
At the hospital, Dory’s wife was questioned by Department of Family and Protective Services investigators, who were asking questions about the bruising on Zianne’s body. Dory’s wife told the police detective that she was thinking at the time, “What bruising? What are they talking about?”
When she returned to Zianne’s body, Dory’s wife pulled back the sheet and saw all the bruises and thought, “What the (expletive). Where did all these bruises come from?” the affidavit said.
“I had so many questions that I wanted to ask him (Rekeem),” Dory’s wife said, according to the affidavit. “But I’m not even gonna lie, I didn’t want the answers right then because I felt like I would have reacted.”
Toward the end of the interview, Detective R.B. Jackson, who wrote the affidavit, said he asked Dory’s wife what she believed happened to Zianne.
“I don’t even want to fathom it,” Dory’s wife said, according to the warrant. “I think he got super-frustrated with Zianne, possibly peeing and pooping on herself and whipped her too hard. ... I don’t know. I wish my baby was here so I could ask her.”
A doctor told officers that Zianne died from a lack of oxygen and/or blood to her brain caused by brain swelling.
Authorities concluded that Dory was the only person who was with Zianne at the time she sustained her injuries. Detectives also noted inconsistencies in Dory’s statements to police and his inability to adequately explain what caused Zianne’s injuries, the affidavit said.
This story was originally published May 20, 2020 at 1:31 PM.
