Local News

‘My gut told me’: 4-year-old who died in Mattapan was murdered, mother says

Boston police confirmed that their homicide unit is investigating. The boy was home with his father at the time of his death.

Sa'Doni Powell, 4, was found unresponsive in a Mattapan apartment earlier this month. Genesis Parris

May 21, 2025

3 minutes to read

As the Boston Police Department homicide unit investigates the death of a 4-year-old boy who was found unresponsive in a Mattapan apartment, his mother is blaming the boy’s father, who is not currently facing criminal charges.

“He was so excited for summer, so excited to start kindergarten in September, excited to see the sunflowers across the street from our house bloom,” Genesis Parris said about her son. “He didn’t get to do any of that.”

Boston police responded to a call for a cardiac arrest at a Hannon Street apartment just before midnight on May 6. Sa’Doni Lee Powell, 4, was pronounced dead early the next morning at Boston Children’s Hospital, his mother said.

Parris told Boston.com she at the hospital for herself when the boy’s father called to tell her something was wrong. As Sa’Doni was taken by ambulance to the hospital, she saw bruises on his face and forehead, as well as scratches on his hand, Parris said.

According to a heavily redacted police report obtained by Boston.com, Boston firefighters on the scene informed responding officers that “the victim was nonviable” before he was transported to Boston Children’s Hospital. Parris said her son’s lips were dry when she arrived, and first responders put an oxygen mask on his face.

“When I got there, he was on the phone with 911 and giving my son CPR, and I dropped my stuff and ran over to him,” Parris said. “When I touched him, I thought he was pulling back from me. Later on, I found out that stiffness is a sign of death, but I thought he was pulling back from me.”

Parris said one of her other children staying with Sa’Doni’s father that night was also injured. Police did not return a request for comment about any other injuries that night.

“I was notified that the 3-year-old had a broken rib and a black eye, that’s when I knew that he had killed Sa’Doni,” Parris said, referring to Sa’Doni’s father. “I just couldn’t understand how or why.”

Boston.com is not identifying Sa’Doni’s father because there have been no criminal charges filed against him connected to the boy’s death.

The father told Parris and police that the boy, who is allergic to nuts and had asthma, had an anaphylactic reaction. When reached by phone and asked about his son, Sa’Doni’s father ended the call.

Genesis Parris and Sa’Doni Powell. *Courtesy of Genesis Parris.*

Parris said she had never seen him be physical with her or the children.

“He barely liked to put them on time out,” she said.

“I spent a whole night in the hospital trying to come up with any other, any tragic accident or anything, but my gut told me,” Parris said. “There’s no way he could have had an allergic reaction. … It wouldn’t put bruises on your forehead and bruises on your cheek, scratches on your arm.”

Parris said she won’t officially know Sa’Doni’s cause of death until an autopsy is completed, which can take up to three months.

Boston police confirmed that their homicide unit is conducting an ongoing criminal investigation, while the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office said the investigation is active but declined to comment further.

A spokesperson for the Department of Children and Families said the agency “received a report and is investigating.”

Parris organized a GoFundMe to help fund a funeral for Sa’Doni, raising around $2,000 as of Wednesday evening.

“I just wanted somebody to understand, to feel what I was feeling, just to understand the confusion. It’s been two weeks,” Parris said. “I feel like BPD has more than enough to go and arrest this man.”