Keishawn Gordon, 23, of the Bronx, New York City, New York, United States has been arrested. He was charged with murder, sexual abuse, manslaughter and aggravated sexual abuse.

While unemployed, Gordon lived in an apartment at the Webster Houses in Morrisania in the Bronx with his girlfriend Jessica Melendez, 30, the mother of Legacy Beauford, 1. A neighbor in the building told the New York Daily News that she repeatedly heard crying and screaming from the apartment.

Gordon is accused of punching Beauford, breaking the baby’s ribs and lacerating the baby’s liver. Beauford would not stop crying so Gordon took a toothbrush and sodomized the boy, sources told the New York Post.

At around 3:00 p.m. on September 9, 2021, Melendez reportedly called 911 after finding her son unconscious in the bedroom. New York City Police Department officers immediately responded to their apartment.

Emergency medical services transported Beauford to Bronx Care Health System where he was pronounced dead. Doctors told the NYPD that they found bruising on Beauford’s body. Because of this, the NYPD and the Administration for Children’s Services (ACS) launched a joint investigation.

“Our top priority is protecting the safety and well-being of all children in New York City,” the ACS said in a statement. “We are investigating this case with the NYPD.”

Before Gordon’s arrest on September 10, 2021, he had 18 arrests. In 2018, he was accused of putting his hands around a woman’s neck then slamming her to the floor and was charged with criminal obstruction of breathing.

Morrisania is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern part of the Bronx. The area is patrolled by the 42nd Precinct of the NYPD.

The neighborhood was named after the Manor of Morrisania, an estate owned by the Morris family that at one time owned most of the Bronx as well as much of New Jersey, USA. Among the members of the aristocratic family were Lewis Morris and Gouverneur Morris who are both buried in the crypt at St. Ann’s Church of Morrisania in the Bronx.