Coeur d’Alene boy dies from head trauma; stepfather faces homicide charge

A 17-month-old boy from Coeur d’Alene died Monday from head trauma he allegedly suffered at the hands of his stepfather.

Joseph J. Davis, 31, is expected to be charged with homicide in Kootenai County. He is being held in the Kootenai County Jail on $1 million bond.

Davis was arrested Friday for felony injury to a child. Making his first appearance in court Monday afternoon, he learned that Maliki Willburn had died at a Spokane hospital. A deputy prosecuting attorney told the judge the charges would be amended this week.

Doctors at Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane said the young boy had severe trauma to his skull and brain, according to the Coeur d’Alene Police Department.

Police and medics were called to the 800 block of North 5th Street in Coeur d’Alene on Friday evening and found the child having difficulty breathing and showing signs of “obvious head trauma,” police said.

Davis told police he had been alone with the child for 20 minutes and didn’t know how he was injured.

A Gofundme page was set up over the weekend on behalf of the boy’s birth parents, Dacia Davis and Antonio Willburn, to help them with expenses related to their son’s hospitalization.