Judge grants bond to woman charged in 3-year-old son's death

ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. — A woman charged in connection with the death of her 3-year-old son was granted bond Monday morning.

Xavier Mokarzel-Satchel died Friday afternoon after being beaten with a curtain piece at the Eagle Landing apartments on Silver Star Road in Orange County's Pine Hills neighborhood, deputies said. His mother, Brandi Mokarzel, 23, was charged with child neglect.

Mokarzel's girlfriend, Lakesha Lewis, 28, and her girlfriend's mother, Callene Marcia Barton, 58, were charged with first-degree murder.

Investigators said Barton and Lewis beat Xavier with a plastic rod used to open blinds and threw him down a hallway because he drank milk from a carton. His neck was injured and he started convulsing, an arrest report said.

Mokarzel told detectives that Barton and Lewis threatened to "end her" if she called for help, so she called 911 from a neighbor's home, the report said.

The toddler, who was critically injured, had trouble breathing. He was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he died.

“The little child, he was cool. He was hyper, energetic, running around and smiling all the time,” said family friend Elijah Barnes.

Investigators said Mokarzel failed to protect her son by not escaping from her roommates sooner.

Mokarzel told investigators she woke up Friday to Barton yelling at her son for, “drinking milk from a milk jug and eating yogurt.”

She told a deputy that during the attack, she tried multiple times to call 911, but Barton, “knocked the phone out of her hand” telling if she called for help, “she had something coming.”

During Saturday's hearing, a judge asked prosecutors why Mokarzel was charged in the case. He gave the state 48 hours to explain the charge.

The judge who presided over Monday's hearing granted Mokarzel a $2,500 bond and ordered her not to have contact with minors. Barton and Lewis are being jailed without bail.

Cox Media Group