MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The teen accused of brutally beating and killing six-year-old Destine King at a Cordova foster home remains locked up in juvenile detention.
A detention hearing was held Monday in Juvenile Court for 14-year-old Antonio Evans.
Evans faces multiple charges including first-degree murder after the medical examiner’s office ruled King’s death a homicide.
Police were called to a home on Beaver Trail on December 23 where they found King unresponsive.
She later died.
Police said Evans assaulted King and two other young children at the home he had been watching for their foster mother.
There were just a few people allowed inside Evans’ detention hearing Monday.
The magistrate banned all non-essential court personnel.
The District Attorney’s Office told WREG the hearing was basically a formality, but required by law in order to keep Evans behind bars.
An attorney from the D.A.’s Office said he simply read over the affidavit during the hearing.
From outside the courtroom, WREG could see Evans, a small-framed teen with a low haircut, wearing an orange jumpsuit.
He stood quietly for the short proceeding and appeared to sign paperwork at one point.
Some of the women inside the hearing, including one standing near Evans simply said “no comment” when they walked out of the courthouse.
Meanwhile, records show the same Cordova home where Evans is accused of beating and killing little Destine is no stranger to foster children.
A police report from 2014 revealed a foster mother at the same address contacted MPD after she said her foster child was being harassed by other children.
Another report from 2010 noted a foster child ran away.
DCS wouldn’t say how long Destine had been living at the home before her death.
However, the On Your Side Investigators did confirm through Juvenile Court, a case involving Destine and her two siblings was placed on the dependency and neglect docket in September of 2013, and the children were placed in DCS custody at that time.
No word on whether Destine’s siblings were the same two children also allegedly assaulted at the Cordova home.
Attorneys said Evans will have a status hearing at some point soon.
