![](https://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/nwitimes.com/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/b/fd/bfd5b28b-f4f5-5c72-822c-05f4f01f6c3f/61a6afc23bf54.preview.jpg?crop=1726,906,0,147&resize=1200,630&order=crop,resize)
CROWN POINT — A 3-year-old boy died from blunt force trauma to his head and body last month, about three weeks after he was returned to the care of his mother and her boyfriend, court records state.
Keegan Fugate suffered a dislocated neck; bruises in different stages of healing on his abdomen, face and head; bruising to his brain; a lacerated liver; and bruising to his internal organs, including his pancreas, Lake Criminal Court records show.
Keegan died Oct. 12 at Methodist Hospitals Northlake Campus in Gary, after his mother called 911 because he stopped breathing and had vomited multiple times since the previous evening.
The boy’s mother, Kylie E. Fugate, 23, and her boyfriend, Joseph R. Pridemore Sr., 32, both of Gary, each were charged Nov. 24 in connection with the boy’s homicide, newly unsealed court records show.
Pridemore was arrested Monday on one count of murder. Kylie Fugate was taken into custody on a charge of neglect of a dependent, a level 1 felony.
Neither has entered a plea yet, according to online court records.
Kylie Fugate is accused of initially lying to police, telling them Pridemore did not live with her at an apartment in Gary’s Miller section and that Pridemore’s mother had been watching her children the evening of Oct. 11 while she was at work at a South Haven gas station.