A 29-year-old Southeast D.C. man has been arrested and charged with first-degree murder more than three years after an infant was found unresponsive in a Southeast Washington home and later died. Dion Phelps was taken into custody Friday in connection with the March 2023 death of seven-month-old King Phelps, according to police.
Officers were called to a home in the 1300 block of Morris Road Southeast shortly after 2 a.m. on March 16, 2023, responding to a report of an unresponsive infant, according to FOX 5 DC. Paramedics who arrived at the scene found King Phelps with “no signs consistent with life,” and he was pronounced dead there, the station reported.
The case sat without a ruling for months. It was not until late September 2023 that the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that complications from blunt-force trauma caused the baby's death and classified the manner of death as a homicide, as reported by NBC Washington.
Arrest Comes Years After Homicide Ruling
According to the Metropolitan Police Department, members of its Fugitive Unit responded to the D.C. Jail this past Friday, October 23, pursuant to a D.C. Superior Court booking order, and charged Phelps with first-degree murder for King Phelps's death. It is not clear from available reporting whether or how Dion Phelps and King Phelps may be related, the same FOX 5 DC report noted.
DC News Now, which first reported on the arrest, identified Phelps as a 29-year-old man from Southeast D.C. and said police confirmed the arrest came in connection with the 2023 case. The station's report credited the story to reporter Kaitlyn Dillon, and the article was published and later updated the night of October 23.
Part of a Deadlier Stretch for the City
King Phelps's death was one of several infant and child cases from earlier in 2023 that D.C. officials determined around the same time had been homicides, per the same NBC Washington account. That reporting came as the city was logging a grim milestone: by September 26, 2023, Washington had already surpassed 200 homicides for the year, the earliest point in any year the city had reached that total since 1997, according to NBC Washington.
D.C. Code outlines first-degree murder as including killings committed during the commission of certain other crimes, such as arson or first-degree sexual abuse of a child, according to the D.C. Council Code. The excerpt of the statute does not indicate which legal theory prosecutors intend to pursue in Phelps's case, and no information about a court appearance, bond status, or plea has been made available.
