Friends, Family Remember Slain Child, Ask for Answers (VIDEO)

About a dozen friends and family of whose April death is being investigated as a homicide, gathered Monday to celebrate what would have been the child’s fourth birthday.

The group, which included Howard County Det. Aaron Miller who is investigating the case, clustered around the child’s small grave at King’s Memorial Park in Baltimore, where they lit candles, held balloons, and filled a vase on the site with roses, carnations and other flowers, which stood alongside small toys his father placed there.

On April 13, Elijah LaJeuness was found unresponsive in his Columbia home. Police have said that Elijah’s mother, 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.

Robert LaJeuness of Hyattsville, who is Elijah’s father, spoke to friends and supporters Monday while they held candles and balloons in the late afternoon.

Joaquinia LaJeuness was not present at the gathering and has not responded to phone calls or e-mails regarding her son’s death.

“I still remember getting the call from the hospital,” Robert LaJeuness said, as he removed a tiny blade of grass from the polished granite of his son’s grave. “All they would tell me is he’s sick in the hospital and I should come up there.”

“It’s hard to believe as little as he was, I pictured all the moments when he was older--first car, first date, first dance,” he added. “Since he was so smart, I wondered what he would be when he grew up.”

He said he remembered every detail of his last days with his son. He had custody of Elijah every other weekend following a marriage annulment with Joaquinia LaJeuness. 

“We went to a friend’s birthday--- and all the fun we had…..” Robert LaJeuness said. “I remember at the end of the weekend he didn’t want to go home. I always reassured him I loved him and if anything was wrong, he could tell a teacher, a police officer or a doctor.”

A , 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 filed, but the allegations are now part of the ongoing investigation.

Also, less than a month before Elijah LaJeuness died, the Howard County Department of Social Services between the child and his “alleged maltreator,” according to documents released by the Maryland Department of Human Resources.

Miller, with the Howard County police department, declined to comment on the record on the case Monday and said all questions about it needed to be coordinated through the department’s media relations department.

Police spokeswoman Sherry Llewellyn said police didn’t have information to release on the case Monday.

Other friends at the gathering Monday said they were concerned about Elijah in the months before he died.

Haley Cohen, who was his preschool teacher at Kindercare in Columbia, said she was in the process of filling out a report for Child Protective Services on the child when she heard of his death.

“I was aware of some things happening, and I was doing everything I could to help him, but unfortunately he passed on too quickly,” she said. “[I was] just shocked. He was three years old, no child should be gone that quickly."

At this point, Cohen said she wants to know "who is responsible and why they haven't been caught yet."

Robert LaJeuness said he has “faith in Detective Miller and his staff to solve this case.”

“I have confidence there will be justice,” he said during the gathering. “I don’t know how much confidence I have in the state for allowing this to happen.”