Concerned woman contacted police weeks before death of 8-year-old boy

Less than a month before the death of 8-year-old Keyontae Holzendorf, a woman spotted the boy with injuries at Food Town and called police to report her concerns.

Officers responded shortly after noon Feb. 28 to the grocery store at 1455 Wilcrest Drive in Houston’s Briarforest area to conduct a welfare check, said John Cannon, Houston Police Department public information officer.

After speaking with the parents and boy, officers referred the case to Child Protective Services personnel in Harris County and Texas. Police noted the boy appeared “playful,” Cannon said. CPS told police there was no immediate record of having dealt with the family.

The names listed as complainants on the report were Kayla Holzendorf and Dominique Lewis, Cannon said.

Both are now charged with injury to a child and tampering with evidence in connection with the death of the boy. Holzendorf is the 24-year-old mother of Keyontae, and Lewis, 28, is her common-law husband, according to authorities.

The boy died Tuesday night at Quality Inn & Suites at 2930 West Sam Houston Parkway South, which is the address listed in court records as the family’s residence. Police responded to a reported child drowning at the hotel, but authorities found the boy in the middle of the room with injuries not consistent with drowning.

During a probable cause hearing, a prosecutor said there was evidence

that the boy was chronically abused and possibly tortured, including ligature marks on his ankles and patches of skin missing from parts of his body.

In charging documents, both adults are accused of binding the boy and striking him with and against a blunt object. The couple is also accused of concealing a pair of handcuffs and duct tape during the course of the investigation into the child’s death, court records show.

Nahji Jackson, 30, said she was walking up to the grocery store last month when she saw a boy nodding off while on his feet. He had a gash under his right eyelid and burns, cuts and bruises on his skin, she said.

Jackson, a mother of three, approached the boy and his mother.

She asked the boy what happened, and he told her he fell off a bike, Jackson said. “You can be honest,” she told him, but the boy fell silent and his mother became defensive.

Jackson got into an argument with the boy’s mother, whose boyfriend threatened Jackson over the phone, she said. That’s when Jackson called the police.

The responding officers observed that the boy had an injury to his eye and scratches behind his ears, Cannon said. The officer stated in his report that the boy appeared to be playful and not afraid or scared of his mother or stepfather.

The couple told police that the boy fell off his bike while riding without training wheels, Cannon said. The officer contacted Harris County Child Protective Services, which said it could find no immediate record of having dealt with the family. As a precaution, Cannon said, the officer notified the agency’s physical abuse unit and statewide CPS personnel about the incident before leaving the scene.

A spokesperson with Texas Department of Family and Protective Services said Thursday that its child protection branch had prior contact with the family, but it was unclear if that contact was the incident at the grocery store. “Specific details are confidential according to law,” said spokesperson Melissa Lanford.

Jackson said it looked like the mother was “hustling” the boy outside the store for money. The boyfriend’s demeanor on the phone changed when police showed up, she said, and the boy told officers to get away from him — “like he was trained,” Jackson said.

As Jackson left the store, she said she told the boy: “Somebody loves you — I love you. I’m so sorry I can’t do nothing else.”

On the drive home, she wanted to turn around and go back for him. She called her friends and family members crying.

This week, Jackson’s mother called to tell her about the death of a child she heard on a news report . She wondered if it was the same boy. Jackson went to the hotel where the death was reported and showed employees the video she took of the boy during the grocery store encounter.

Employees told her it was the same boy, she said.

Jackson was filled with anger, hurt and confusion after learning of the death, she said, and has since been speaking to media outlets about the situation.

“We could have saved that boy’s life,” Jackson said. “What I want to do is I want to get my point across — if you see something, say something.”