Irving couple charged with murdering 8-year-old boy, violently abusing him

IRVING, Texas - A woman and her boyfriend are charged with murdering her 8-year-old son after Irving police say he was violently abused for several days.

Police arrested Leslie Curtis, 30, and her boyfriend, Codie McCrory, 29, last Friday. They are accused of killing Leslie’s 8-year-old son, Delmor Best-Curtis.

"There are evil people in this world," said Irving Police Officer Robert Reeves. "And this is some of the side effects of them being around children of what happens."

Friday evening, Irving police were called to the Magnuson Hotel off Highway 183 and found 8-year old Delmor unresponsive laying on the bed with noticeable injuries.

"It’s pretty bad. From bite marks to burn marks to fingernail marks, you can tell he was choked before because there were fingernail marks around the neck," Reeves said. "Some of them are so graphic, it’s kind of disgusting to even talk about them."

According to the arrest warrant affidavit, the little boy also "had blood on his head, facial swelling and an obviously broken left arm."

Less than 30 minutes later, Delmor was pronounced dead at Children’s Medical Center in Dallas. The medical examiner ruled his death was caused by blunt force trauma.

Police say the little boy lived with his mother, Leslie, and her boyfriend, Codie, at the hotel since last November.

"The male described the fact that he had kind of pushed the little boy, and I guess he hit his head on the bed and then he pushed him again and he hit his head against the wall," Reeves said. "He went unconscious at that point. And then he tried to put him in the shower to get him to wake back up, but that was unsuccessful."

Curtis told police the abuse happened over the last ten days and claimed McCrory beat her, too.

The affidavit says "Curtis had a black right eye and significant bruising to the left side of her face… Curtis had seen the defendant kick the victim in the head on more than one occasion." She also says McCrory would bite her and her son.

"If the child moved while being hit or beaten, the male would sometimes bite the child to teach them to quit moving," Reeves said.

Police say Delmor’s mom moved to Texas to be with McCrory, and the little boy was never enrolled in school, making it more difficult for anyone to report or notice the abuse. 

"They knew the difference between right and wrong," Reeves said. "They knew exactly what they were doing."

Police are urging anyone who suspects abuse to report it and prevent something like this from happening.

"Don’t take the attitude of ‘I don’t want to get involved’ because you may be the only person that could save that child’s life," Reeves urged.

So far, it does not appear police or the state had any prior reports on the family.

Curtis and McCrory are charged with capital murder.