Update, Feb. 18: Shortly after the Signal Tribune published this story, Local Hearts Foundation founder Tito Rodriguez, otherwise known as “Hood Santa,” paid the remaining balance on the GoFundMe. The campaign has now made $5,083 of its $5,000 goal.
A GoFundMe campaign has raised $3,733 of its $5,000 goal as of Friday, Feb. 18 to pay for the funeral and cremation of a baby boy who was reportedly killed by his own father in a Long Beach motel on Feb. 9.
According to the Los Angeles County Medical Examiner-Coroner, 10-month-old Isaiah Esaias Gaston died from multiple blunt force traumatic injuries. He would have celebrated his first birthday on March 28.
A 12-minute video of Isaiah shared by his family on YouTube shows that he was skilled at crawling, knew how to hold himself up by grabbing furniture, and had already mastered how to say “yeah” but was still working on “hi.”
Long Beach police officers were dispatched to a North Long Beach motel in the 5400 block of Atlantic Avenue in response to a reported domestic violence incident at approximately 7 a.m. on Feb. 9.
Police said that on arrival they located Isaiah’s mother, who reported that she had been assaulted by the infant’s father, Jeremy Wade.
Police said they found Isaiah unresponsive in a motel room and began rendering first aid until Long Beach Fire Department personnel arrived and transported him to a hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.
According to LA County’s online Inmate Information Center, Jeremy Wade was charged with murdering his 10-month-old son on Feb.14 and is being held on $2.05 million bail at the Twin Towers Correctional Facility in Los Angeles. He is due back in court on March 7.