Dad's child abuse charges upgraded to 1st-degree murder; 4-year-old killled during out-of-state visiitation (Orlando, Florida)

We've posted on this case before.

Notice that this child was killed within three weeks of Daddy demanding summer visitation--even though the boy was only four and lived out of state with his mother. Previous articles have demonstrated that the father had a history of violence and child abuse.

Dad is identified as WILFRED EXILASE.

http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2013-03-13/news/os-child-abuse-charges-upgraded-murder-20130313_1_child-abuse-charges-child-abuse-face-murder-charges

Father's child-abuse charges upgraded to murder

March 13, 2013|By Desiree Stennett, Orlando Sentinel

Wilfred Exilasse told investigators that his 4-year-old son's severe head injuries occurred when the boy slipped and fell.

But doctors didn't believe him. To them, the child's fatal injuries looked more like he had been involved in a violent car crash.

Now, Exilasse's child-abuse charges have been upgraded to first-degree murder.

A grand jury indicted the 27-year-old father in late February, nearly six months after his son, Elijah Exilasse, died of complications caused by blunt-force head trauma.

Elijah's mother Felicia Lubin, who lives in Colorado Springs, sent the boy to spend the summer in Orlando at Exilasse's insistence. Three weeks later, her son was in the hospital.

In the ambulance on May 30, Exilasse told emergency responders he had been disciplining Elijah when the boy slipped from his hands and fell between the bathtub and sink, according to court documents. When investigators questioned him the next day, he said Elijah slipped off the toilet and fell to the floor while he was playing alone.

Dr. Greg Olavarria, the neurosurgeon who treated Elijah at Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, said both stories were "suspicious and improbable" because Elijah's injuries were far more severe than Exilasse had originally explained.

"That type of injury could only be caused by extreme blunt force such as a car crash, being struck by an object or being shaken," Olavarria told investigators.

Elijah died Sept. 1 and now his father who was initially charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse will face murder charges at trial. A tentative trial date has been set for April 22.