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Vigil Grows for 8-Year-Old Boy Found Dead in Round Lake Beach Home; Mother, Boyfriend Charged
The mother and boyfriend face charges after evidence showed prolonged physical, mental, and nutritional abuse led to the child's death, with a sibling also hospitalized, officials said.
- On Friday, first responders were called to the 1900 block of Cedar Lake Road, where officers began CPR on 8‑year‑old Markell Pierce before he was pronounced dead at Advocate Condell Medical Center, and authorities charged Dominique Servant and Joey L. Ruffin with murder.
- Prosecutors say the alleged mistreatment was prolonged and planned, not a single incident, as evidence inside the home showed long-term physical, mental and nutritional abuse, Lake County prosecutors said.
- Prosecutors say Ruffin recorded beatings, including one about an hour before the 911 call, with footage showing Pierce shirtless and bruised while being verbally abused, and punishments included repeated belt beatings and forcing him to hold an eight-pound weight.
- Judges in Lake County ordered Dominique Servant and Joey L. Ruffin held pretrial as a 10‑year‑old sibling was hospitalized for abuse and a 3‑year‑old was placed with DCFS, authorities say.
- Round Lake Beach Police Chief Ryan Rodriguez said, `Our community is grieving,` as neighbors held vigils and left memorials outside the home on the 1900 block of Cedar Lake Road, and Rinehart urged reporting suspected abuse.
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Round Lake Beach couple jailed until trial in death of boy: ‘A slow-motion murder’
A judge ordered a Round Lake Beach couple detained until trial after hearing about months of abuse authorities said they directed at the woman’s son that amounted to what Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart called “a slow-motion murder.” Judge Michael Nerheim ordered Domnique Servant, 33, and Joey Ruffin, 38, held in the alleged first-degree murder of Servant’s 8-year-old son, Markell Pierce. A former educator of 8-year-old Markell Pierce…
·Chicago, United States
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Round Lake Beach community shaken up by death of 8-year-old boy, mother and boyfriend charged with murder
A case in which a mother and her boyfriend have been charged with murder following the death of an 8-year-old boy has shaken up the north suburban community of Round Lake Beach.
·Chicago, United States
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Coverage Details
Total News Sources14
Leaning Left1Leaning Right2Center9Last UpdatedBias Distribution75% Center
Bias Distribution
- 75% of the sources are Center
75% Center
C 75%
R 17%
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