Few Answers Six Months After Columbia Toddler’s Homicide

Six months ago today, Howard County police found 3-year-old Elijah LaJeuness unresponsive in his Columbia home.

The child was taken to where he was pronounced dead.

His remains the only homicide of the four that have occurred this year in Howard County that has not garnered criminal charges.

"This is one of the cases--it takes some time before an arrest can made,” Howard County police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn told Patch this month.

Irwin Kramer, attorney for LaJeuness’s father, Robert LaJeuness, said in an interview this month his client is “beyond distraught over the loss of his little boy."

Robert LaJeuness has referred questions about his son’s death to Kramer. Joaquinia LaJeuness, his ex-wife and Elijah's mother, has not returned phone calls or e-mails seeking comment.

Police say that Joaquinia LaJeuness has not cooperated in the investigation. She was one of two adults present in the home at the time of the death, according to police.

The cause of LaJeuness’s death was ruled homicide by asphyxia. Details of the case were released by police July 28, three months after the child died.

“This was not an accident,” Kramer said. “Somebody is responsible for this. ... He [Elijah’s father], like the rest of us, deserves some answers to these questions.”

Kramer declined to comment on the specifics of the case, saying he didn’t want to impede the investigation.

“I just can’t believe that this month marks the six-month anniversary of his murder,” family friend Tiffany Northern of Sacramento, CA, where Robert grew up, said in an e-mail interview this month.

“Something greatly went wrong in that apartment the night Elijah left this earth.”

Northern cited Howard County child protective services reports that in the year before Elijah died.

A Patch investigation earlier this year revealed doctors, social workers, police and day care providers investigated several injuries to the child, ranging from bruises to his forehead and ears to second-degree burns on the tops of his feet.

No child abuse charges were ever filed, but the allegations are now part of the ongoing investigation.