2 arrested in connection with 4-year-old Euclid boy’s death

EUCLID, Ohio (WOIO) - According to Euclid Police Chief Scott Meyer, 2 adults have been arrested in connection with the death of 4-year-old Musiah Wadud of Euclid Tuesday.

Earlier the Cuyahoga County Medical Examiner’s Office said the death of a 4-year-old Euclid boy has been ruled a homicide.

Musiah Wadud’s death was due to “blunt impacts to head, neck, trunk, and extremities with brain, liver, skeletal, and soft tissue injuries,” according to the medical examiner.

21-year-old Fawziyyah Wadud is 4-year-old Musiah Wadud’s mother.

“I feel devastated but I’m kind of happy at the same time to know that they are arrested,” said Wadud.

Police initially responded to the Parkside Gardens apartment complex on East 260th Street on the morning of May 5 to investigate the child’s death.

The boy, who was first identified by family members as Musiah Wadud, was taken to University Hospitals Richmond Medical Center where he died from his injuries.

Police said three children, who are 10 years old or younger, were removed from the apartment for their safety.

“It’s hard but I’m trying to be strong,” Wadud said. “I just want justice for my baby, for both of them. It’s devastating it’s like I’m living in the worst nightmare. I haven’t been able to sleep really or eat.”

Wadud is also the mother of Musiah’s 3-year-old brother who she says was just released from the hospital.

“He’s not okay,” the mother said. “I’m pretty sure he’s well aware. He’s traumatized. I tried to reach out to touch him and hug him and stuff and he don’t wanna be touched. He don’t wanna be hugged.”

She said her 3-year-old son had black eyes, lacerations, and scars all over his body and he was malnourished. She told 19 News she lost custody of the two boys in 2018.

“They didn’t want to give custody back to me because they said that I was too young at the time,” said Wadud. “I didn’t have any type of support system. They tried to say because I have mental issues that they were scared that I wasn’t able to take care of them.”

Since then, their father’s sister and her boyfriend had custody of the boys. Their father, Derrick Anderson, is currently in jail, but 19 news spoke with him on the phone.

“I’m almost coming home and I gotta come home to a dead son and I feel like a coward because I wasn’t there to protect him and I was trusting my own kind, my own blood, my sister and they hurt my son and I just want justice for my son,” Anderson said.

Wadud says she knew something was wrong the last time she spoke to the boys in October.

Both parents believe the boy’s aunt and her boyfriend had been abusing Musiah and his brother, but police have not said if they were the two people arrested.

“When I close my eyes to try to go to sleep, I just see like little memories when I did have them like them playing with each other running back and forth being a kid,” Wadud said. “It’s just hard.”

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