Shayaa Yusef Forbes claimed his 12-year-old son drowned in the bathtub. But the boy’s body and the autopsy told a different, horrifying story.
Eric Forbes had endured years of abuse, including being beaten and bitten, according to investigators. When the Paulding County sixth grader died in October 2013, he had extensive injuries and scarring, from head to toe, an assistant district attorney told the court on Monday. An 11-page autopsy report detailed more than 100 injuries on the boy, who stood 4-feet-8 inches tall and weighed 91 pounds.
On Monday, Shayaa Forbes pleaded guilty to felony murder in his son’s death and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Forbes, 34, avoided a trial as part of the plea deal. His defense attorney argued for Forbes to be granted parole after 30 years, calling Forbes a religious man who made a mistake.
“I’m shocked by what I heard here today,” Judge Kenneth Vinson told the court. “I’m a religious man myself, and I don’t know of any religion that would condone that kind of treatment.”
Forbes’ defense argued that Eric’s injuries and scars were from football injuries and eczema scars. Forbes, who had full custody of his two children, was a stern father who wanted his daughter and son to stay out of trouble, witnesses testified.
But it took an hour for David Lyles, assistant district attorney, to describe the autopsy findings, which revealed that Eric’s body showed signs of abuse spanning two to three years.
Shortly before 10 p.m. Oct. 11, 2013, Forbes called 911 to report that his son had drowned at the family's rental home on North Springs Way, off Cedarcrest Road. Forbes lived in the home with his son, daughter and a girlfriend, who was at work at the time.
“I thought he was in the tub, but when I went in to try and see him…,” Forbes told an operator, heard in the 911 recording previously obtained by The AJC. “He was a little bit underwater. His head was, like, bobbing.”
When paramedics arrived, Eric was fully clothed and on the hall floor, Lyles said Monday. The boy was not wet and the bathroom tub and floor were also dry, paramedics noted. Forbes was on top of the boy, giving him CPR, but Eric was unconscious and had no pulse. He was pronounced dead at WellStar Paulding Hospital.
Forbes told detectives that Eric had lied about having bad grades, and lying was disrespectful. Eric had made some good grades, but in a notebook, his father found papers with poor grades, Lyles said. Eric’s punishment was a whipping with a paddle — a piece of wood with metal hooks for hanging keys — and a leather belt, prosecutors said.
That beating lasted between 45 minutes to an hour, and the next day, Eric didn’t go to school, Lyles told the court. It would be the last day of his life, and Eric would endure one final whipping. Forbes told detectives that whipping, which lasted 15 minutes, was minor.
While Forbes was being questioned by detectives, his son was pronounced dead. Forbes was arrested within hours of his son’s death and charged with cruelty to children. The autopsy conducted the following morning determined Eric’s death was a homicide, and charges were upgraded to include murder. Eric’s younger sister was removed from the home and placed in protective custody.
The death shocked the North Paulding community, where Eric attended McClure Middle School and played youth league football. But just over the county line in Cobb, teachers at one elementary school had previously suspected Eric was being abused.
Between February 2012 and September 2012, teachers at Frey Elementary School in Acworth reported suspicions of abuse five times to the Cobb County Division of Family and Children Services office, Lyles said. Caseworkers cited unfounded claims or reasonable discipline in closing all five cases.
By November 2012, Forbes had moved his family to Paulding, and Eric finished elementary school at Shelton Elementary before starting middle school at McClure.
Eric’s death came just weeks before 10-year-old Emani Moss was found dead inside a trashcan at the Gwinnett County apartment complex where she lived. She weighed just 32 pounds.
The deaths of Eric and Emani sparked scrutiny into the state's DFCS program, which had investigated the abuse of both children prior to their deaths. Two supervisors were fired after Eric's death.
Following his arrest, Forbes was being held at the Paulding jail until April 2014, when he was released on $25,000 bond. Later the same month, he was indicted on eight felony charges, including three for felony murder.
Forbes didn’t take the stand Monday, but his public defender, Angela O’Conor, read his statement to the court.
“Never in a million years did I ever want this to happen,” Forbes wrote. “All I ever wanted was the best for my kids.”
After being sentenced Monday, Forbes was led out of the courtroom by deputies as his mother and friends and Eric’s family members looked on. As she was led out of the building, Forbes’s mother cried out several times, but declined to speak to reporters.
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