On Oct. 5 the King County Prosecutor’s Office formally filed a charge of second degree murder against West Seattle resident Alicia J. Goemaat following the Sept. 27 death of her boyfriend’s son, Drue. Goemaat was arrested Oct. 1 and subsequently confessed to detectives that she was responsible for the injuries that ultimately resulted in the young child’s death.

According to the charging documents Goemaat, 20, has been living on the 6500 block of California Ave. S., in the Morgan Junction, with her boyfriend Derek Lehto. The two each have young sons of their own, Lehto’s child Drue and Goemaat’s son K.G. (as identified in the charging docs), and were caring for the boys together. According to statements from witnesses and both Goemaat and Lehto the two boys (Drue being 17-months-old and K.G. being 2-years-old) would often fight with each other.

On Sept. 27 Goemaat and Lehto were in bed together when they heard a disturbance in the living room from the two children. Goemaat’s son had chased Drue behind and a couch and the child was crying hysterically. Lehto separated the boys and an argument broke out between the two parents on how best to discipline their sons. Lehto eventually left to do some shopping at the grocery store.

While he was gone Drue again began crying as he and K.G. fought over a toy. Goemaat kicked Drue in the stomach, knocking him to ground. She then walked over to him and kicked him a second time before picking him and putting him in his playpen. A few minutes later when she went to check on him she found that Drue had stopped breathing and appeared to be dead. When she called for Lehto to come and help he attempted to give the child CPR while she called 911.

Police and medics arrived at the couple’s residence five minutes after receiving the 911 dispatch and found the child was long past being resuscitated. When police asked Goemaat and Lehto about the circumstances leading up to the child’s death both denied having any information that could help.

Detectives took possession of Goemaat’s phone and reviewed records of an incident that was reported to Child Protective Services on Sept. 20th from the Seattle Children’s Hospital. At that time Lehto had taken his son to the hospital to be treated for scratches and bruises. The attending physicians informed Lehto that the injuries were not consistent with rough housing by children and reported the incident to CPS.

On Sept. 30 police managed to contact friends of Lehto and Goemaat who had stayed with the couple for three days in the middle of September. These friends informed detectives that they had become concerned for the safety of Drue after witnessing Goemaat’s methods of disciplining the boy. According to these witnesses Goemaat is a recovering drug addict and would easily become agitated with Drue’s crying. She was observed spanking and flicking parts of the child’s body to get him to quiet down. The witnesses also stated that she would often get so angry that her whole body would shake.

On Oct. 1 the search of Goemaat’s phone was completed by forensic investigators and text messages between Goemaat and her family indicated that Lehto was accusing her of having killed his son. A warrant was authorized for Goemaat’s arrest and served later that day.

When police arrived at the couple’s home Lehto answered the door and informed detectives that Goemaat had attempted suicide the night before by cutting open her legs. Lehto had bandaged her and had taken care of her all through the night. When asked if she had made any admissions to killing his son Lehto said that she hadn’t but that he and his family all firmly believed she was responsible. Goemaat was taken into custody.

Once at the police station and after being read her Miranda Rights she admitted to investigators that she had kicked Drue twice and that he had died soon afterward. She was taken to the King County Jail and booked on investigation of murder. Her bail has been set at one million dollars.

An arraignment hearing has been scheduled for October 20th at 8:30 a.m.

The case has garnered international attention since being reported last week and interviews and comments from those close to both Goemaat and Lehto have been released. In an interview with KIRO Goemaat’s ex-boyfriend Josh Bryant stated that he was shocked by the crime and that during the time they were dating she had never acted like a violent person or done anything questionable to his young son. Goemaat’s brother Allen Shafer expressed both shock and remorse in a Facebook posting stating “This does break my heart hearing about it been making me in tears seeing my own sister all over the web.”

A GoFundMe page has been set up by Lehto’s family to raise money for Drue’s funeral. On the page Drue’s aunt Rachel Mann writes “you are never prepared or expected to say goodbye to an infant so precious” and praised her brother for his hard work as a single parent.

If any readers wish to donate to the Lehto family for Drue’s funeral follow the link here to visit the GoFundMe page.