Toddler beaten to death by mother’s boyfriend

10-month-old Madison Marie Spearman lay in a tiny, pink coffin at the Union Baptist Church in Elizabeth, as shocked relatives gather around her battered body.

Mother’s boyfriend arrested for the murder
Little Maddie was beaten to death in Irvington last week by her mother’s 15-year-old boyfriend.

The accused, whose name has not been revealed because of his age, had beaten up the toddler as he couldn’t put up with her crying.

She died inside an apartment in Roosevelt Terrace, which was rented by the suspect’s family.

The child’s 19-year-old mother, Chrystal Spearman, shared this apartment with the boy’s sister, who was also her best friend.

Spearman, who was in the apartment at the time of the assault, has been charged with child endangerment, and was released on a bail of $20,000.

The suspect, who is not the father of the child, is being held without bail on charges of murder, child endangerment and aggravated assault, said Anthony Ambrose, chief of detectives for the Essex County Prosecutor’s office.

Relatives grieve the violent death
Many of the grieving, 70 odd relatives and friends, gathered at the church wearing T-shirts with a picture of Madison emblazoned on front.

Acting Essex County Prosecutor Carolyn Murray’s announcement that she would seek to have the alleged killer tried as an adult, was applauded by all assembled relatives, including the baby’s grandmother, 37-year-old Natasha Levant.

“We want him charged as an adult for the horrific crime that he committed. I have pictures of Madison from when she was in the hospital.He beat her to a pulp. He beat her senseless.”

Talking about her son, Delvonte Levant West, the baby’s father, she said, “He took fatherhood very seriously and he gave up his friends, and those weekends.”

Chrystal, she said, “loved her (Madison) to death”. Both were loving parents who split custody of the toddler.

Madison was buried at the Rosehill Cemetery in Linden.