American man of Tennessee gets life without parole in 2019 murder of girlfriend’s 18-month-old son

A jury on Friday convicted Robert Keith Elmore Jr., 32, of capital murder in the 2019 death of 18-month-old Enzo McCormack

By Edward Era Barbacena 

Senseless killings of innocent children in the United States is becoming too rampant.  This may be the many cases of displacement wherein white American adults would pour down their white rages against the helpless children.

A Blount County man has been convicted in the death of his girlfriend’s son and the abuse of her other son, who was killed earlier this year in an unrelated alleged abuse case.

A jury on Friday convicted Robert Keith Elmore Jr., 32, of capital murder in the 2019 death of 18-month-old Enzo McCormack.

He was also convicted of aggravated child abuse for injuries sustained by Jessie McCormack during the same time that Enzo was killed.

The trial began Sept. 28, and the jury’s verdict was delivered about 7:45 p.m. on Oct. 6

The sentencing phase of the case began Monday morning and concluded Tuesday with the jury’s recommendation of life without parole.

Enzo McCormack, 18 months, died in 2019, three days after he was gravely injured while in the care Elmore

Enzo’s mother, Samantha McCormack, is awaiting trial, which is set for 2024. She remains held without bond.

At 7 p.m. on September 6, 2019, Blount County authorities responded to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive child at Locust Fork Hardware Store.

Locust Fork Volunteer Fire Department emergency medical personnel arrived on scene to find Enzo in respiratory distress. His pupils were fixed and dilated, and he was turning blue, said Blount County District Attorney Pamela Casey. His body was already limp and cold to the touch.

Blount County EMS arrived on scene and transported Enzo to the Locust Fork Volunteer Fired Department where a landing zone had been secured for a helicopter called to transport the child to Children’s of Alabama in Birmingham.

Sgt. Chris Hollomon testified during the trial that he obtained a statement from McCormack at the Hardware Store.

She said she had been home alone with the children, and while using the restroom, she heard a thump in the living room.

McCormack returned to the living room to find Enzo choking on a piece of cereal.

Later that evening, she decided to take him to the hospital to be examined.

On her way to the store, McCormack stopped to get cigarettes and gasoline, according to testimony.

After entering the store, she with with Heather Elmore, Robert Elmore Jr.’s, sister.

Heather Elmore testified she exited the store to check on the child whom she found to be limp and cold to the touch.

The two women then moved Enzo into the store and called 911.

Medics testified that when they arrived, Enzo could not breathe on his own and had to be intubated.

Authorities from the Blount County Department of Human Resources testified they transported two other children to Children’s of Alabama for medical evaluation. Court records identify those children as Enzo’s twin sister and his older brother, Jessie.

Haley Jenkins was one of the DHR caseworkers.

Jenkins testified that she remained at Enzo’s bedside throughout the night.

Blount County sheriff’s Sgt. Ed Hull testified that he interviewed McCormack and Elmore after the children were taken to the hospital.

Elmore told Hull that on Sept. 6 he was caring for the children while their mother worked.

According to Elmore, he reached into a pack-n-play to get Enzo when the child pulled Elmore’s chest hair, and Elmore dropped the child.

Elmore did not give Hull any information concerning the origin of Enzo’s injuries, however he said the child did not have any bruising when Elmore got out of bed at 1 p.m. that day.

Dr. Michael Taylor testified that he examined the child and based on his training and experience, Enzo suffered blunt force trauma and severe acceleration and deceleration injuries from being violently shaken.

Enzo remained on a ventilator until Sept. 9, 2019, when doctors determined the child had no measurable brain activity and no further measures could be taken to save the life of the child. The doctor testified that Enzo’s injuries were not consistent with Elmore’s story.

Dr. Taylor also examined Jessie.

According to Dr. Taylor, Jessie had a skull fracture with arterial bleeding and swelling under the scalp, and he was hospitalized. The doctor said Jessie’s bruises behind his ears would have occurred within a few hours of sustaining his skull fracture.

Dr. Valerie Green, a forensic pathologist with the Alabama Department of Forensic Sciences, testified that she performed an autopsy on Enzo.

She said Enzo had multiple contusions on his scalp, indicating he had at least two points of impact on his head. She also testified that the numerous retinal hemorrhages and the severity of the injury to the brain indicated the child had been violently shaken.

Elmore’s telephone records were also admitted into evidence.

Those records showed that at 5:41 p.m. on Sept 6, Elmore sent a message to the mother of the children informing her that Enzo “ain’t breathing rite...he is limp...and almost blue.”

Prosecutors argued that Elmore was alone with the children at 5:41 p.m. on Sept. 6, 2019. Elmore intentionally and violently shook the child and repeatedly subjected the child to blunt force trauma, continued to shake the child until the child lost consciousness, and willfully denied the child proper medical care for over an hour because he intended for the child to die.

Casey said she respects the jury’s verdict and appreciates their willingness to serve.

“It has been a difficult nine days. This was a brutal attack perpetrated upon two innocent children,’' she said. “The testimony was not easy to listen to and the evidence was not easy to look at.”

“Yet, the jurors remained attentive and focused,’' she said. “They returned a verdict they deemed fair and just based on the evidence presented.”

Jessie McCormack, 6, died in January.

His father, Joshua D. Clark, 29, is charged with capital murder in Jessie’s death. A trial date has not yet been announced.

On Jan 18, 2023, Anniston police officers were called to Northeast Alabama Regional Medical Center on a child abuse case.

They arrived to find the medical staffing treating the unconscious Jessie.

The boy was transferred to Children’s of Alabama with critical injuries. Clark, his father, was interviewed by detectives and charged with aggravated child abuse.

Jessie died on Friday, Jan. 20, 2023. He was in his father’s custody at the time of his injuries and subsequent death.

The indictment said he was beaten to death “by a belt or belt like object and hands.”

McCormack asked to be released from jail to attend Jessie’s funeral, but a judge denied her request.

Clark and McCormack married in 2018, and separated just two months later, court records show.

They had three children together, first Jessie, who was born in April 2016, and then Enzo and his twin sister, who were born in 2018, four months before their parents got married.

Enzo’s twin sister is now the only surviving sibling.

Elmore’s formal sentencing has been set for Dec. 1, 2023. McCormack’s capital murder trial is set for May 9, 2024.