KINGS MOUNTAIN, N.C. — The Kings Mountain man accused of killing his girlfriend’s 2-year-old boy faced a judge for the first time Wednesday morning. In court, 21-year-old Taylon Peeler was denied bond and will remain behind bars until his next court date.
“Never easy, never easy,” Kings Mountain Chief of Police Lisa Proctor said.
Chief Proctor has been in law enforcement for 28 years and said crimes against children are never easy.
“If we don’t stand in the gap to help protect these children and help to investigate these cases to the best of our ability, who will? That’s what we’re called to do," she said. "That’s what my officers and I do."
It’s what her officers did Sunday when a call came in from the King’s Mountain hospital around 5 a.m.
Police said 2-year-old Rhymell Collins was brought in with life-threating injuries. Officers discovered shortly after that the child was being airlifted to Levine Children's Hospital in Charlotte for advanced care.
“Upon initial speaking with the staff out there it was determined that we needed to contact our investigation unit to conduct a full investigation of the injuries involving the child,” Chief Proctor said.
Police said Collins passed away from his injuries Monday, January 6, in Charlotte. The next day, they arrested 21-year-old Taylon Peeler, charging him with homicide.
Police say Peeler was arrested in Charlotte without incident and transported back to the Kings Mountain Police Department to be processed and transported to the Cleveland County Law Enforcement Center in Shelby, North Carolina.
Wednesday, Collin’s family hung a t-shirt outside the Linwood Ave home, where police say the incident happened. The shirt reads, ‘RIP Diggy,’ a nickname given to Collins by his family.
“I feel for them because I mean that was a 2-year-old child," Sahira Patterson said. "Even though two years sounds like a short amount of time, it’s a lot of love within those two years."
Patterson doesn’t know the Collins family but lives nearby. As she played in the yard with her 1-year-old son Wednesday, she couldn’t help but think there’s a lesson for all parents to take away from this tragedy.
“I’m sad this happened," she said. "Hopefully, parents will take it more serious who they allow to be around their kids when they’re not there because you never really know someone fully."
Kings Mountain Police said although they’ve made an arrest, the investigation is still ongoing. They have not yet released what Collin’s injuries were or how he got them.
NBC Charlotte also reached out to Collin’s parents. His father Shymell Collins declined to comment, saying he did not want to jeopardize the investigation.