Leah Mullinix, the mother of 2-year-old Dante Mullinix, finished her 20-plus hour long testimony Wednesday on the 12th day of the homicide trial of Tyree Bowie, who the commonwealth alleges beat the toddler the evening of Sept. 6, 2018, resulting in his death just over a week later.
Leah Mullinix left Dante in the care of Bowie when she went to the hospital the evening of the Sept. 6 for a migraine. Less than two hours later, Bowie arrived at York Hospital with an unresponsive Dante in his arms.
The trial is before Common Pleas Judge Gregory M. Snyder and a jury. The prosecution is led by First Assistant District Attorney Tim Barker and Senior Deputy Prosecutor Rachel Sherman.
Bowie is facing charges of first and third degree murder as well as a count of child endangerment. He is represented by Attorney Farley Holt, who is alleging the child choked on a cookie and the other injuries were delivered by Leah Mullinix or one of her associates or former boyfriends.
Leah testified the afternoon of Friday into the evening and resumed her cross examination by Holt on Monday morning. She concluded around 2:30 Wednesday afternoon.
Holt cross examined Leah on her messages and movements in the months and days leading up to Dante’s hospitalization and death. She had hopped from one home to the next over the span of when she arrived in York from Adam’s County in mid-June to Sept. 6.
Many of the people Leah stayed with were alleged members of the Latin Kings gang, including Hector “Holiday” Rivera and Albert “Ghost” Castro.
According to her testimony Leah was kicked out of Holiday’s mother’s house because she cheated on him and was pressured to leave Ghost’s mother’s house because of an infection on Dante’s genitals that she would not take him to the hospital for.
The infection was later found to be type two herpes. Leah is currently facing a felony count of child endangerment for not treating her son and for leaving him alone with Bowie.
Leah begins testimony:Tyree Bowie trial: Mother of Dante Mullinix testifies, claiming no fault in his death
The potential causes of death:Forensic experts disagree in trial of Tyree Bowie for death of Dante Mullinix
IMs provide insight:‘Baby I’m scared’: new text message evidence in homicide trial for Mullinix toddler
According to testimony, the infection was very painful for Dante and he spent evenings screaming, chipping away at Leah’s sleep. She often sent Bowie text messages that Dante was “trippin” or that she was “about to snap.”
Additionally, Leah’s sister, Sarah, was fighting to get custody of the child. Leah had texted Bowie about it, unsure of what to do about the Sept. 5 court date she was served with. She ultimately avoided the date by claiming she had never been served and she did not have a ride to make it.
Leah also said in the texts she saw Holiday hit his children when she and Dante were living with him, and acknowledged he had been physically and verbally abusive toward him.
The mother also testified about the video calls she had with Bowie the night of Sept. 6, the first she believed was from the address on Lexton Drive in North York where Bowie was staying in a guest room. She said it was dark, and it looked like he was laying on a bed with Dante, who had a mark on his chin.
Earlier, Bowie had testified the toddler fell out of his car trying to unbuckle himself and had hit his chin. He had also said the two were locked out of the apartment when Leah was not present.
Leah also testified about another call from when Bowie was driving to the hospital and allegedly trying to save Dante from choking. She said he had said the boy was choking but did not see him trying to get a cookie from his mouth or perform CPR as it was dark.
Leah testified that she was not offered any deal for testifying in Bowie’s case in relation to the charges against her, but she hoped for leniency.
At the end of her testimony, Holt pulled up a text conversation between her and Holiday in which she said she was only not in prison because of “that cop.”
She then said the cop she was referring to is Sgt. Kyle Hower, the lead detective on the case, who had been accused of ignoring evidence by Bowie’s roommate Laci Peiffer earlier in the trial.
Leah said she did not have money for bail when charges were brought against her, and it was later charged to supervised bail, where she said there might have been a deal.
After Leah finished her testimony, the defense brought its first witness, nurse practitioner Natalie Billings.
Second day of trial:‘Please don’t let this be the boy’: bruises, brain function and more in question at trial
First day of trial:‘No good deed goes unpunished’: murder trial of Tyree Bowie begins after numerous delays
Dante’s life:‘This poor kid was doomed from the beginning:’ The tragic life and death of Dante Mullinix
Billings examined Dante on Sept. 2, a day after he was prescribed a cream and ointment to help heal his herpes. Billings said she saw many “red flags” for abuse and neglect that made her request York CYS to take custody of the child, which it ultimately did not.
Among the red flags: the toddler was dirty, hungry, had a saturated diaper, a large bruise on his upper right forehead and tLeah was seemingly inattentive and on a video call with someone else for the majority of the visit.
Billings also said there were discrepancies in Leah’s story as to why she had not gotten the medication Dante needed. Her story switched from she was only able to get one of the medications because the pharmacy was out of the other to her wallet was stolen that had her money and insurance cards.
When she found out child services had not taken custody of the child as she had asked, she felt angry and unheard, having seen situations like Dante’s in the past. Less than two weeks later, the boy was dead.
Wednesday’s proceedings wrapped up with Bowie’s mother, Cheryl Preston, testifying on the days she had met and interacted with Leah and Dante Mullinix.
Preston said she only came into contact with Leah and Dante twice before the child’s death, testifying they looked poor and dirty and Bowie was trying to help them. She said he first brought them to her house in mid-August as he was trying to fix Leah’s tire.
The second time Bowie brought the two around, Preston said ,he called to get them in an abuse shelter, as they were homeless at the time and Bowie did not have a stable living situation. She also said he called CYS on Leah, although the prosecution said that was not mentioned in any of her subsequent interviews with the police.
The trial, which was originally slated to end on Dec.16, is now expected to run into next week.
Jack Panyard is a reporter at the York Daily Record, part of the USA TODAY Network. Contact him at jpanyard@ydr.com, 717-850-5935 or on Twitter @JackPanyard.
This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Leah Mullinix testifies for 20 hours in homicide trial of Tyree Bowie
