Elijah Exilasse

 

 

 

 

 

The day that would have been Elijah’s fifth birthday, his father, Wilfred Exilasse, was arrested by law enforcement on child abuse charges in connection with Elijah’s death. Elijah died on September first of complications caused by blunt force head trauma.

Elijah’s father had been investigated before. In 2010, when Elijah was at his father’s, his aunt discovered Elijah alone and crying. Florida caseworkers determined Elijah was malnourished and recommended that he live with his mother, Felicia Lubin. Lubin moved from Florida to Colorado Springs in 2010 after that investigation was closed. While in Colorado Springs, Lubin received a court petition stating Exilasse wanted to see his son every summer and alternating holiday.

 

Lubin sent Elijah to his father in May because she thought she would get in trouble if she didn’t comply with that petition. Three weeks later he son was hospitalized with head injuries. A neurosurgeon said the father’s stories about how the injuries were caused were improbable. That neurosurgeon concluded the child’s injuries only could have been caused by blunt force trauma. Lubin stayed at the bedside of her unconscious son for nearly two months. In July, he was flown to a Colorado Springs hospital, where he eventually opened his eyes. Although physically responsive, he remained bedridden and unable to speak. Elijah was discharged in August and sent home with medical equipment he needed to survive. Weeks later he died.

Two charges of aggravated child abuse are pending against Wilfred Exilasse in connection with the death. Exilasse accepted a plea deal to avoid the first degree murder charge.

 

http://childfatalities.denverpost.com/#id=76&name=ExilasseElijah