Tampa man accused of beating infant to death

Lukrisha Milliner just had returned to her apartment after dropping off her 4-year-old son at University Head Start about 9 a.m. Thursday morning when she opened the door of her 11-month-old son's room.

Lying on his back in a diaper and T-shirt, Nasir Milliner, who just was learning how to walk, looked like he was sleeping, Milliner said Saturday.

She called to Nasir, she said, but there was no answer.

As she got closer, she could see her son was not breathing, Milliner said.

She touched his foot.

"It was cold," Milliner said. "I started screaming."

Panic and fear set in, she said. Milliner called Derron Denard Brown, her boyfriend of seven months, who lives in an apartment beneath hers. Brown was supposed to be watching Nasir, she said.

She said she asked him to help with Nasir.

Brown, she said, asked her what was wrong.

"He came over and acted like he had no idea," Milliner said.

Brown picked up the baby, Milliner said, but the boy's body was limp. His arms flopped.

Still frantic, Milliner said she told Brown to call 911. As Brown called, a neighbor came over and was able to revive Nasir using CPR, Milliner said. But the child later died at Florida Hospital.

Meanwhile, Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office investigators questioned Milliner. They questioned Brown.

"He told me that Nasir went to sleep after drinking some milk," Milliner said.

Later, she said, Brown told her all he did wrong was not check on Nasir.

Investigators said Brown told them a different story. On Saturday morning, Brown, 24, of 1209 Sand Lake Circle, was charged with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse.

"The detectives told me that Nasir was crying from the time I left," Milliner said. She said detectives told her Brown "was playing tackle with the baby."

She said investigators told her Brown hit the child in the chest, punched him, took him in the kitchen and dropped him on the floor.

A few hours after the arrest, Milliner sat on a couch, clutching her dead son's favorite teddy bear, the one that talks, lights up and sings songs.

She held the bear and said she had a question for her boyfriend, who is in a Hillsborough County jail with no bail and is scheduled to appear in court Sunday morning.

"Why did he do that to my son?" she said. "That's what I want to know from him. Why?"

A funeral for Nasir will be held next Saturday, Milliner said.

"His birthday is the next day," she said. "He was going to make (age) 1."

Moments later, Milliner walked to the balcony of her apartment.

A young man looked up and shouted for Brown, his friend and Blake High School classmate who graduated in 2006 and played backup quarterback for the school's football team.

"Do you know where Derron is?" asked James Speillman.

"Derron?" Milliner shouted back. "Derron's in jail. He killed my baby."