Malaki Lindley

Kokomo, IN–Malaki Lindley should have turned a year old Friday. There should be pictures of Malaki eating his very first slice of birthday cake…pictures of that birthday cake smeared all over his smiling little face. There should have been presents for Malaki to enjoy, lots of bright and colorful new toys to play with. Friday was supposed to be his big day. Malaki didn’t get to enjoy that milestone…he died last Sunday. Derrick Fox, his mother’s boyfriend of 6 whole weeks, killed him.


After driving Malaki’s mother, Katie Lindley, to work last Sunday morning, Derrick made a pitstop. He had to pick up a dime bag before returning home to babysit the children. While he was inside buying the  pot…and sampling the product, Malaki and Derrick’s two young daughters were sitting outside in the car, alone.

Malaki started fussing a bit once the crew got back home. Derrick picked him up to *ahem* comfort him and all of a sudden, Malaki arched his back and just jumped right out of Derrick’s hands! On the long trip down to the floor, Malaki smashed his head on an end table before hitting the floor. Derrick said that the baby cried for about 10 seconds, vomited, and then went limp. Boy, that’ll kill a good buzz, won’t it?

To revive the child, Derrick smacked him and shook him around a bit. He tried those revival techniques for about 4-7 minutes. When that didn’t work, he loaded Malaki and the other children back into the car, drove back to Katie’s place of employment, and then to Howard Regional Health System. What? In this day and age, there were absolutely no phones on which to dial 911 immediately after it happened? After initial treatment, the infant was airlifted to Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis for further treatment. Malaki Lindley died that day…5 days short of his first birthday.

An autopsy revealed that the injuries to the child didn’t match the story 28-year-old Derrick Fox was telling. The cause of death was blunt force trauma to the head and the injuries to the child were non-accidental. He had extensive bruising on his face, ears, torso, and on the top of his little head. He also had a broken right clavicle that had already begun to heal. Ooooh! Maybe that’s why the little guy was fussin’! He was in pain! This hadn’t been the first time that child was abused.

Derrick Fox was arrested Wednesday evening. He is being held in the Howard County jail without bail, facing charges of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a felony. If convicted, Derrick could spend up to 50 years behind bars.

Murderer: