Left: Dahrian Zamora and his son Dawson Zamora (Facebook). Right: Chelsea Berg (Collin County Jail).
A Texas dad has taken to Facebook to describe how his 3-year-old son “was murdered” by the child”s mother, saying he died this week after the mom let her boyfriend smash his head and body, leading to “global brain damage” and other injuries.
Just days before the boy’s death on Dec. 7, Dahrian Zamora provided an update on his son’s deteriorating health condition, which came after Dawson Zamora had awoken from a medically induced coma “over a month ago” following the alleged October assault.
“It has not looked good,” Zamora wrote on Dec. 3.
“He has opened his eyes but he does not track movement, does not smile, does not cry, does not make a noise,” the devastated dad said. “His body has stiffened up, his wrists curl into his chest and his feet point straight with no bend at the ankle at all. As the public knows his prognosis was global brain damage. CT scans and MRI scans still show this to be true with no improvement and he will now be in a vegetative state. My Son Dawson is not ‘Dawson’ anymore.”
The boy’s mother, Chelsea Berg, had her charges upgraded on Monday to capital murder following Dawson’s reported death, according to court records viewed by Law&Crime. Zamora said on Facebook that she had been trying to visit and see the toddler while he was in the hospital, leading Zamora to file for an order of protection against her on Oct. 27, per court records.
“Mother is ordered to hire professional supervision for any contact with either child,” a Collin County judge ruled on Oct. 28, noting how Dawson was “on life support and has had multiple surgeries.”
Zamora was appointed as the “temporary JMC” and granted “primary” custody of Dawson, with him describing the court proceedings on Facebook.
“I have had to acquire an attorney and go to war against Chelsea when it comes to decision making, custody, life and death decisions,” he wrote on Dec. 3. “I’m here today to finally break the news that I have been granted sole conservatorship, sole custody, sole decision maker, and sole decision maker over life and death. Chelsea has no say so or power in anything with my kids.”
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Zamora announced Dawson’s death on Monday night, saying he “died on my birthday” on Sunday morning.
“His gift to me was his final breath and we are now forever interlocked with my birth and his death,” the father explained. “He held on to spend one last birthday with me and refused to go until then.”
Zamora described how Berg was “being charged at the highest degree due to her lack of effort in protecting our children.” He said the loss of his boy has broken him emotionally.
“My son didn’t have to die, this could have been prevented,” Zamora wrote on Facebook. “He should have been protected and now he was murdered. My THREE YEAR OLD MURDERED and I’m left carrying this and I don’t know where to go from here.”
Zamora added, “I’m 31 years old having to bury my 3-year-old son and I obviously wasn’t prepared for this because we shouldn’t have to bury our children.”
Berg, 30, was initially charged with injury to a child, according to Collin County authorities. The mother’s boyfriend, Christopher Thomas Alexander, 30, was charged with injury to a child causing great bodily injury, stalking, and tampering with physical evidence with intent to impair, according to the Collin County Sheriff’s Office. Both now face capital murder charges of a person under 10.
Berg had posted a $100,000 bond for her release and was rearrested on Monday, with a bond for the murder charge not being set yet. Alexander has remained in custody since his arrest on Oct. 14.
After the alleged assault, Alexander brought Dawson to a hospital in McKinney — a large suburb 35 miles due north of Dallas — and told staff he heard a “thud” and found the boy injured, according to court documents obtained by Dallas-based Fox affiliate KDFW. Doctors determined the boy was suffering from severe trauma, including a brain bleed, bruising in various stages of healing all over his body, wounds to his chest and stomach, and other injuries, according to law enforcement.
Such injuries were not consistent with a lone thud, hospital staff determined, and local police were called. A warrant for Alexander’s arrest was issued later that same day.
When questioned by detectives, Berg relayed a narrative in which she left Dawson with her boyfriend around 7:20 a.m. on the day in question, police say. Then, she received a text about the boy eating lunch. Sometime after that, the boy’s mother received a frantic phone call from Alexander about heading to the hospital, police say.
At the hospital, Berg said she first heard about Alexander’s claim of the purported thud while the boyfriend was in another room. After the so-called thud, Alexander allegedly told Berg he found the boy injured. The child’s mother said her boyfriend did not elaborate beyond that, law enforcement claimed.
Alexander declined to speak with police at the hospital after obtaining a lawyer, according to authorities.
Detectives showed Berg pictures of Dawson’s injuries and, in response, she insisted her son did not have any such injuries when she left him with Alexander while she went to work that day, police say.
A GoFundMe that was launched to raise funds for medical expenses alleges that “Dawson was tragically abused.”
Colin Kalmbacher contributed to this report.
