Mother of 2-year-old: Boyfriend said he didn’t want to go to prison

Kelsie Martin described her 2-year-old son Brayden Ferguson as a loving, funny little boy who “lit up the room” before the morning of Feb. 13, 2017.

Martin gave emotional testimony about her 911 call Tuesday in the Montgomery County Common Pleas Court murder trial of her boyfriend, Ryan “Luke” St. John, 23, who is accused of killing Brayden.

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Martin, 21, testified that when she discovered Brayden was turning blue and she called 911, she heard St. John say, “’Oh my God, I’m not going to go to prison.’ Something along those lines.”

The 911 call was played for jurors in the courtroom of Montgomery County Common Pleas Court Judge Gregory Singer as Martin dabbed her eyes and some of the 30-plus people in the gallery sniffled.

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“Oh my God,” Martin said during a chaotic 911 call that included a dispatcher asking if someone knew how to do CPR, some periods of silence and muffled voices in the background. “I went in there to wake him up and his lips were blue.

“He’s not breathing. Can you please hurry up and get here!”

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On cross examination, Martin told defense attorney William Cass Jr. that she admits she didn’t originally tell detectives that St. John said anything about going to prison before, during or after the 911 call.

Martin testified that neither she nor anyone else who showed up knew how to properly do CPR. She also said St. John left the apartment and didn’t go to Dayton Children’s Hospital.

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A Dayton police officer testified that when St. John was located and put into a cruiser to be taken downtown for questioning, he asked about his son.

The officer said that when he relayed Brayden’s condition, St. John said they weren’t talking about the same person. The officer said St. John was referring to the son he and Martin have together.

The trial is expected to last all week.

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