The case involving the suspected murder of a 16 month-old child has been bound over to Grand Jury after a preliminary hearing held in Picayune.

On Monday, Judge Rochelle Lumpkin presided over the preliminary hearing involving the suspected murder of 16 month-old Brandon Stacy. The incident leading up to the case occurred on Jan. 27, at the apartment complex located at 700 N. Main Street Apt. 1 where the child and both suspects lived.

At the hearing, allegations of drug use and child neglect were were said to contribute to the child’s death by Picayune Police Investigator Mike Odom.

The child was found lying on the couch on the first floor of the two-story apartment. Jackson Pathologist Dr. Steven Hayes listed the cause of death as blunt force head trauma. There were also noticeable signs of abuse on the child, such as an adult-sized hand print on the baby’s face and bruises on the body.

During interrogations, the two suspects, mother to the child Allison Regina Holmes, 23 and her boyfriend Kelly Lee Bonomo, 24, gave conflicting stories. Each pointed the finger at the other. Bonomo was not the child’s father.

Both suspects said they had used heroin while the child was in their care.

Odom said Bonomo told him that the couple would “shoot up” six times a day. When Holmes would “shoot up,” Bonomo told Odom she would lose control and beat the child. Asked if he had ever tried to stop the abuse Bonomo said he had not.

Bonomo told Odom he never beat the child.

During the interrogation with Holmes, Odom said she had a quick temper when he asked her questions about the incident.

Holmes told him that the child was clumsy and would fall down a lot. She told Odom that she suspected Bonomo was beating the child and she had noticed that the child appeared fearful of Bonomo. Odom said when he asked her why she did not have Bonomo removed from the home, she did not give an answer.

“Neither one of them showed any remorse for the child’s death. Neither one of them took any responsibility for the child’s death,” Odom said.

Holmes reportedly gave differing accounts concerning if she had checked on the child the night in question.

“Their stories never matched up and I kept getting inconsistent stories from both of them about what happened to the child,” Odom said.

From her own admission she was out of it that night. Bonomo had to shake and yell at her five to six time to “Get her out of her drug induced stupor,” Odom said.

During examination of the body, markings of five visible fingers were found on the face of the child, Odom said. Bruising was also visible along the back of the child’s head and on the child’s back, concurrent with abuse.

Holmes never said that she beat the child during any officer’s questioning, Odom said.

The couple is charged with the neglect of the child and capitol murder.

Connie Gay, Holmes’ mother and Brandon’s grandmother, said she never knew her daughter to lay a hand on the child.

“He was just learning how to blow kisses with his mouth wide open,” Gay said.