Online Fundraising Effort Seeks Help With Maryland Toddler's Funeral

A relative of a Frederick toddler found dead in an Ohio creek is raising funds to pay for his funeral and other expenses.

Shamekia Chambers said Friday that she launched the online effort to help her cousin Shawn Beckford, the father of 14-month-old Cameron Beckford.

The gofundme.com effort was established Thursday. It had raised $95 by Friday morning. Chambers wrote on the fundraising page that the family desires privacy while they grieve.

Click here to donate to the fund.

Police believe they found Cameron's body Wednesday in a bag in central Ohio.

His mother, Dainesha Stevens, previously told police she abandoned her son on a stranger's porch, but her attorney, Mark Collins, said his client made up the story because she couldn't care for him and that was her way of asking for help.

Stevens, 24, appeared in court Wednesday on two felony charges related to the boy's disappearance and was ordered held on $150,000 bond.

She is charged with endangering children and tampering with evidence. A charging document says Stevens failed to protect the boy by allowing someone to violently spank him several times.

According to The Columbus Dispatch, Stevens had taken Cameron and his 6-year-old sister to Columbus from Frederick, Maryland on Dec. 15.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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