Beaufort County man arrested, charged in 2019 killing of 8-month-old child
Beaufort Police have arrested 27-year-old Frederick Luma of Lady’s Island and charged him with homicide by child abuse, more than a year after he was accused of killing his girlfriend’s 8-month-old son.
On June 19, 2019, Luma called 911 to report the child was not breathing, police say.
The baby was taken in an ambulance from the Sea Point Apartments to Beaufort Memorial Hospital in the early morning hours before being transferred to the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston, where the infant died, according to a previous Beaufort Police Department news release.
Luma later admitted to shaking the infant in an interview with investigators, according to the department. The infant was diagnosed with a severe brain bleed, The Island Packet and Beaufort Gazette reported previously.
Police said Luma left Beaufort County before arrest warrants for the baby’s death were issued. Authorities in Clayton County, Georgia, just south of Atlanta, located him.
He was arrested Dec. 23 and extradited to Beaufort County. He was booked in the Beaufort County Detention Center at 7:15 p.m. Thursday and is still confined there.
Homicide by child abuse is a felony in South Carolina. A conviction can result in 20 years to life imprisonment.
Beaufort Police are asking those with information on the case to contact Investigator Joshua Dowling at 843-322-7950 or call the department’s anonymous tip line at 843-322-7938.
This story was originally published January 3, 2021 at 11:13 AM.