Mother, Boyfriend Allegedly Beat Toddler To Death For Acting Gay

By Kat Callahan  |  March 29, 2014 | 2:56am
In Depth

File this one to horrible, a mother stands accused and her boyfriend has been convicted of manslaughter for beating her four year old child to death. The motive appears to be because the child was perceived to be gay.

Prosecutors argue the mother, Jessica Dutro-Bogess, had a long history of physically and verbally abusing the child because of her perceptions of his sexuality, including his manner of speaking and walking. A search warrant included Dutro-Bogess’ internet presence. A message on Facebook in May 2012 shows her calling her four year old son, Zachary a “fag:”

hes going to be a fag he walks and talks like it ugh it pisses me off.

…what? Seriously? He’s four years old. FOUR. He’s a toddler. True, plenty of LGBT+ people know their identities very early in life, but “walks and talks like it,” really? What, pray tell, does every gay person walk and talk like? And how can that be so offensive, you have to beat the child because of it? Ugh. I can’t even. But it gets worse, of course…

The boyfriend, Brian Canady, has been convicted of the actual death. Court documents say Canady got into an argument with another resident in August of 2012 and then took out his anger on the child when the boy didn’t listen to orders to sit in front of the television.

I am done.

Image via KATU Broadcast.

 
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