Two indicted by grand jury over toddler's death
By SHARON KERR Staff Writer

Crystal Desormeaux

Crystal and Leo Desormeaux, the stepmother and the father of the toddler allegedly shaken to death in December, 2007, were each indicted in separate cases on exactly the same capital murder charges by the Jasper grand jury May 6.

Leo Thomas Desormeaux IV, 26, was originally arrested on capital murder charges after Tristin Dobbins, his 21- month-old son, was found dead in the family home near Evadale.

At first report, Leo Desormeaux told deputies that the child died after he fell in the bathtub the night before, and the father said he was so traumatized that he put the baby in bed and did not report it right away.

Leo Desormeaux shared custody of the child with the baby's mother, Ami Claybrook. Leo's wife Crystal Desormeaux was arrested in December on charges of allegedly tampering with evidence because the baby's body was moved.

Deputies continued to investigate because of inconsistencies in their stories, and in a surprising twist, Leo Desormeaux provided testimony in February that led the arrest of Crystal Desormeaux on charges of capital murder.

Leo Desormeaux

According to television station KFDM in Beaumont, Leo Desormeaux's lawyer Bruce Smith said in February that he felt "the corroborating evidence will show Leo shouldn't be charged with capital murder."

Apparently the grand jury in Jasper did not agree. Charges in the separate cases read, (the defendant) "did then and there intentionally or knowingly cause the death of an individual, namely, Tristin Dobbins, by choking him, shaking him and striking his head with or against an object, the exact nature of which is unknown."

A grand jury indictment does not mean the defendants are guilty, but that the grand jury found sufficient evidence to proceed with trial.

CRYSTAL DESORMEAUX is led to the Jasper County Jail by Jasper County Sheriff's Office Investigator Curtis Frame following her arrest in February of 2008.