Police: Father Confesses To Murder Of 5-Year-Old Son

DECATUR, Ga. — A Decatur father who police said confessed to suffocating his 5-year-old son is scheduled to make his first court appearance Tuesday evening. Police said Gary DeToma also told them he tried to kill his 4-year-old son.

DeToma is charged with murder and aggravated assault.

Five-year-old Gary DeToma, also called “Little Gary,” died at the Oakhurst Place Apartments located at 750 East Lake Drive.

Police said the 4-year-old brother, Will DeToma, was home when police arrived at the apartment. Little Gary’s body was found in a bed in an upstairs room at DeToma’s Decatur apartment.

“That hurts real bad,” said neighbor Nica Taylor.

Taylor was stunned to learn the police department’s allegations against DeToma.

“I just never noticed anything wrong, no problems at all,” said Taylor.

Police told CBS Atlanta News when DeToma didn’t show up for work, a co-worker went to the apartment to check on him.

“He continued knocking, knocking and finally a 4-year-old child came to the door. The co-worker went inside and he found Mr. DeToma in a bedroom with his 5-year-old son and he (the child) appeared to be deceased,” said Deputy Chief Keith Lee.

That co-worker alerted police. Neighbors knew the kids’ parents were going through a divorce and were fighting over custody of the children.

“She was in the process of getting her kids back, and he didn’t want that to happen,” said neighbor Twana Broughton.

Earlier Monday, police had gone to the apartment because the kids hadn’t been turned back over to their mother’s family after a weekend with DeToma. No one answered the door, and police said that, at the time, they didn’t find anything suspicious.

Their mother, Melanie DeToma, had a blog about her children. You can see the blog
here.