Leilah Lopez, 20, of Glendale, Maricopa County, Arizona, United States has three children born in 2020, in 2021 and and in the first week of May 2023. They lived together in a home near 60th Avenue and Golden Lane in Glendale with her boyfriend Johnny Brazell II, 20.

Brazell is the father of Lopez’s youngest child. They lived in California, USA before moving to Glendale in December 2022.

On the early morning of May 16, 2023, Brazell beat his stepson Braxton Lopez, 2, with a belt after the boy would not stop tampering with a window screen inside their house in Glendale. The man violently swung the boy’s head into the corner of a chair and dropped the boy on his head onto a hardwood floor.

Leilah and Brazell waited for Braxton to stop breathing before calling the police. The couple greed to lie to police, paramedics and the hospital about what happed to the boy.

Just after 10:00 a.m., Brazell called 911 and told the dispatcher a pitbull attacked his stepson and the boy was not breathing and had no pulse. Paramedics arrived and rendered cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Surveillance video in the area did not match up with Brazell’s claim that Braxton was attacked by a dog. The statements Brazell and Leilah provided to the Glendale Police Department were inconsistent.

After arriving at a hospital, Braxton was pronounced dead. He had a noticeable skull fracture that appeared to be the result of child abuse and he was covered with bruises throughout his body.

Later, Brazell admitted to killing his stepson. Brazell and Leilah were arrested and booked into jail.

Accused of first-degree murder and child abuse, Brazell and Leilah are being held on $1 million cash-only bonds. The Arizona Department of Child Safety took her two other children into custody.

Neither Brazell nor Leilah showed any obvious remorse for their actions. The two had no prior criminal history.