Milwaukee boy found dead; father found competent, pleads not guilty
MILWAUKEE - A former Wisconsin's most wanted subject is found competent to go to trial on Monday, April 15. During the same court appearance, Romuan Moye pleads not guilty to the charges against him.
Moye is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in addition to multiple counts of chronic child neglect and failing to report his son's death. He appeared on Wisconsin's Most Wanted and was on the run for months before being arrested in February.
WARNING: The details of this case are graphic. Reader discretion is advised.
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Jacarie Robinson's older brother said he found his brother's body inside their father's home near 39th and Elmhurst on Oct. 10, 2023. A criminal complaint said Jacarie's body was found lying on the living room floor, decomposing.
The complaint states a citizen witness spoke with investigators. Three to four days before the boy's body was found, the witness told investigators they spoke to Moye outside the home and Moye "appeared to be acting abnormal." The witness never went inside or saw the boy, they said.
According to the complaint, Moye had indicated he had cancer and, for the past month, had claimed he "does not have long to live." As a result, the witness was trying to spend more time with Moye, but Moye had been "evasive." Moye had been even more evasive over the preceding week.
Per the complaint, the witness went to the home on Oct. 10 and called for Moye: "If you are in there, please come out." When nobody answered, the witness went inside. The complaint states the witness was "immediately struck" by a strong odor, but did not see anyone. The witness went through the house a second time and found the 12-year-old's body.
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The witness later told police that Moye had been keeping the 12-year-old away from family for the past few months because he was acting "really bad," not letting the child leave the house. The last time the witness recalled seeing the boy was on his 12th birthday in August, and recalled the boy looking "extremely skinny," the complaint said. When the witness would ask the boy if he was OK, the boy would say "no," per the complaint.
The complaint states the witness added that Moye was a "harsh punisher," whose punishment could last for weeks – but was not often physical.
Police went inside the home where the boy was found and discovered an "overwhelming smell of mold, feces, and decay," per the complaint. There was a pile of garbage on the kitchen floor and another pile on the kitchen table. There was mold on the sink, moldy food on the counters and moldy food inside the refrigerator. The bathroom was in a similar state.
An autopsy of the 12-year-old found he had a broken right leg with callous bone formed from it healing. It was a "very large" and "irregular" fracture, the assistant medical examiner noted. The autopsy also found the boy's left leg appeared to be fractured, as were two ribs, which also had callous formations.
The assistant medical examiner found the body was "extremely malnourished and emaciated, with moderate decomposition of the body." He weighed 54 pounds at the autopsy.
