GhLinks Media
A Seattle woman was charged Tuesday with second-degree murder for allegedly beating her 14-year-old son to death.
According to court documents, the woman, 29-year-old Denaya Young, got upset with the boy for not completing his chores. That led to hours of abuse which ended in the death of the boy on Jan. 30.
In an interview with police, Young said she “got fed up with talking” to her son about the chores and she “went too far.”
Young repeatedly hit her son with an HDMI cord, even after he pleaded with her to stop and told her multiple times that he was dizzy. She told police she thought he was lying.
According to the King County Medical Examiner, the boy suffered at least 1,172 separate injuries during the abuse, which lasted over 3 hours. The ME declared his cause of death was multiple blunt-force trauma. He then suffered Sudden Inflammatory Response Syndrome (SIRS), in which the body sends blood to so many areas in the body that it cannot sustain the heart.
Three young children and another adult were present in the home for the duration of the abuse.
The victim’s stepfather said he heard the assault happening, and when asked by police why he didn’t intervene, he said, “I don’t want to jump in and then I’m getting jumped on, you feel? I’m not even trying to have that type of day.”
The stepfather said that when “these situations” happen, his “best bet is to mind [his] business.”
The mother told police during the interrogation that she had physically hurt the boy before.
She said it started in November of 2024 and she had hit him, punched him, put her hands around his neck and used the HDMI cord to injure him before, according to court documents.
Young is being held on $3 million bail. Her next court date is expected to be Feb. 13.
