An infant boy found unharmed at the scene of a gruesome triple murder in Lauderdale Lakes on Sunday may become the subject of a custody struggle after two different men were identified as the boy’s father at a hearing in Broward court Tuesday.
The child, Ladainian Belizaire, is 11 months old and currently staying at an undisclosed foster home, where he will remain until Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies confirm he is no longer in danger, Judge Susan Lebow told a woman who identified herself at the hearing as Belizaire’s maternal grandmother, Sonya White.
White’s daughter, Octavia Barnett, 21, was Belizaire’s mother.
Barnett, her roommate Natasha Plummer, 25, and Plummer’s six-month-old son, Carlton Stringer Jr., were found dead early Sunday inside the apartment they shared at 2750 Somerset Dr. in Lauderdale Lakes. Belizaire also was found at the scene but he was unharmed, investigators said.
On Tuesday, state officials said White identified a man named Letineen Belizaire as the child’s father, though he was not in court. It was unclear whether Letineen Belizaire has petitioned for custody of the child.
But a second man, Tevin Montgomery, was in court, saying he was the boy’s father and petitioning for custody.
Montgomery acknowledged his name is not on the child’s birth certificate, he did not live with Barnett or the child, nor was he making any child support payments.
Lebow ordered Montgomery to submit to a DNA paternity test to prove his relationship to the child. The test could take a week or longer to complete.
If Montgomery cannot establish paternity of Belizaire, then the child likely will be placed with a maternal uncle, Patrick Graham, who petitioned for custody and has passed the required screening, which includes a criminal background check and a home inspection, said Mark Riordan, a spokesman for the state’s Department of Children and Families.
BSO detectives requested the child remain in their custody at a foster home, however, until the investigation rules out any further danger.
On Tuesday, BSO still was not releasing much information on how the two women and the other child were killed, who might be a suspect, or how much time passed before their bodies were found in the Lauderdale Lakes apartment.
Elizabeth Carter, who lives in the apartment unit below the one where the women were found, offered a clue as to what may have happened.
Carter, 72, said she heard two gunshots about 2 a.m. Saturday. There were no screams or cries, though, she said. Not having seen anything amiss in the parking lot, Carter said she went back to bed.
On Sunday morning, though, Carter found blood seeping through the roof of her bedroom, she said.
A man who knew Barnett and Plummer went to check on them early Sunday, realized something was wrong, and called for help, BSO said.
On Tuesday, the three people claiming kinship to baby Belizaire — his grandmother, uncle and Montgomery — declined to speak to the media. But White did tell the judge that she felt her grandson’s safety was being compromised by the public nature of the proceedings.
“I feel like he’s not totally protected,’’ White said.
Lebow assured White that Belizaire is in a protected environment at an undisclosed location.












My Yahoo