A Los Angeles man pleaded not guilty today to murdering his 11-month-old son in Long Beach last month.
Jeremy Wade, 23, is charged with one count each of murder, assault on a child causing death and false imprisonment by violence, along with a misdemeanor count of battery on a spouse or girlfriend.
Long Beach police officers went to the 5400 block of Atlantic Avenue Feb. 9 on a report of a domestic violence incident, police said.
“Upon arrival, officers located a female victim who stated she had been assaulted by her boyfriend, who was later identified as Jeremy Wade,” Long Beach police said in a statement. “The female victim told officers that she shares a child with Wade and that he and the child were asleep in a nearby motel room.
Patrol officers located Wade and his son, Isaiah Gaston, inside a motel room.
The boy was “unresponsive and officers began rendering life-saving measures until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived and transported the child to a nearby hospital—where he later succumbed to his injuries,” according to police.
Homicide detectives subsequently “discovered evidence that Wade caused serious bodily injury” to the baby, which “resulted in his death,” police said.
The boy died of multiple blunt force traumatic injuries, according to records from the coroner’s office.
Wade—who was arrested Feb. 9 by Long Beach police—has remained behind bars in lieu of $2.05 million bail.
