Allegheny County police today charged a North Braddock man in the killing of his fiancee’s 8-year-old son.
Orlando R. Williams, 38, has been charged with homicide in the death of JonMarquis Stepich, who died Thursday night after allegedly being assaulted Sunday at his home on Highland Street in North Braddock.
Mr. Williams was lodged in the Allegheny County Jail on $100,000 bond Monday on charges of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person stemming from the incident. The charge of homicide was added today after JonMarquis died at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC shortly before 4:45 p.m. Thursday night.
According to an affidavit filed by police, Mr. Williams said he spent much of Sunday afternoon drinking alcohol during an outing to Ohiopyle State Park with his girlfriend, JonMarquis and two other children. The group later went to West Virginia, and they returned to their home after a few hours.
During the night, Mr. Williams tried to walk through the boy’s bedroom to get to a third-floor room and tripped over a basket of laundry. He told police he got angry that the boy hadn’t cleaned his room so he picked him up and “slammed” him onto the edge of the bed before JonMarquis fell to the floor. Mr. Williams told JonMarquis three times to get up, but the boy “was unresponsive” each time, according to the affidavit.
He then carried JonMarquis downstairs and put him in a chair in the living room. Early Monday morning the couple took the boy, who was still unresponsive, to UPMC McKeesport, where medical staff evaluated him and rushed him to Children’s Hospital due to the severity of his injuries, police said.
The boy was placed on a ventilator in the intensive care unit. He suffered a “herniated brain stem” and bruising to his head, neck, buttocks and chest area, the affidavit said.
The Allegheny County medical examiner’s office said JonMarquis died from blunt force trauma to the head and ruled his death a homicide.
Police said Mr. Williams will remain in the county jail without bail.
First Published: June 24, 2016, 9:24 p.m.