BOSTON, April 29, 2016—The woman previously charged with assaulting Kenai Whyte has been indicted for the 3-year-old boy’s murder, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said.

The Suffolk County Grand Jury today returned an indictment charging MARIA BUIE (D.O.B. 7/28/92) with second-degree murder for injuries she allegedly inflicted on the child shortly before he was found unresponsive in his Alpine Street home on the night of Jan. 31. The boy was rushed to Boston Medical Center, where he died of his injuries on Feb. 2.

“Since the moment we learned of his terrible injuries, prosecutors and police detectives have been gathering facts, evidence, and medical opinions with an eye only to determining the truth,” Conley said. “We could not always share our progress with the public because doing so could have harmed the investigation. But we never lost sight of the devastating tragedy Kenai’s loving family suffered in his death, or our fundamental duty to speak for the tiny, innocent boy whose life was taken.”

The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined that the child’s death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma. An extensive factual investigation by Boston Police homicide detectives developed evidence and witness statements suggesting that only Buie was alone with the child after others present in the home observed him to be healthy and uninjured.

Buie was held on $100,000 cash bail at her arraignment on assault and battery charges last month. The indictment moves her case from Roxbury Municipal Court to Suffolk Superior Court, where it will be adjudicated. Her arraignment in that venue has not yet been scheduled.

Assistant District Attorney Craig Iannini led the grand jury investigation into Whyte’s homicide. Jennifer Sears is the DA’s assigned victim-witness advocate. Buie is represented by attorney Sam Zaganjori.

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All defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt