Man convicted in death of special needs boy

He could face life sentence in drowning of girlfriend’s son

A Fraser man will be sentenced in March after he was convicted Monday in the drowning death of his girlfriend’s 6-year-old special needs son in 2021, according to the Macomb County Prosecutor’s Office.

Hunter Locke-Hughes turned 22 just two days before he was convicted of first-degree child abuse and involuntary manslaughter by a Macomb County jury, according to court and jail records. His trial lasted nine days in Macomb County Circuit Court in Mount Clemens, according to the prosecutor’s office.

He is to be sentenced March 13. His attorney could not be immediately reached for comment late Monday afternoon.

Locke-Hughes was accused of holding the boy, Terrance Adams, under water while giving him a bath on Dec. 28, 2021, according to a release from the prosecutor’s office and its communications director, Dawn Fraylick.

She said the incident occurred in a bathtub at a residence in Clinton Township. LockeHughes, who was 19 at the time, called 911; the boy’s mother was at work, Fraylick said.

The boy was born with CHARGE syndrome, a rare genetic condition that affects several parts of a child’s body, including the eyes, nerves, heart, nasal passages, genitals and ears, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Children diagnosed with this condition have unique facial features and a combination of symptoms, according to the clinic’s website, and every person with the condition is affected in different ways.

Despite the condition, the boy overcame many obstacles, such as learning to walk and partially seeing, according to his obituary.

Locke-Hughes originally was charged with first-degree child abuse and felony murder.

The felony child abuse charge of which he was convicted is a felony with the potential of a life sentence, and involuntary manslaughter is a 15-year felony, according to the prosecutor’s office.