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Man charged with murder in death of girlfriend's son

A Blackwood man assaulted his girlfriend's toddler son and then left him to die in a bedroom with the boy's twin sister as he and other adults partied in the house overnight, authorities said.

A Blackwood man assaulted his girlfriend's toddler son and then left him to die in a bedroom with the boy's twin sister as he and other adults partied in the house overnight, authorities said.

David Ward, 29, of Lower Landing Road, hosted a night of drinking games and marijuana smoking while 2-year-old Riley Cuffee was in dire need of medical care last month, an assistant prosecutor said at Ward's arraignment on murder charges in a Camden courtroom Friday.

The day after the July 30 party, Ward ran out to buy cigarillos before checking on the boy, authorities said. At 5 p.m., after a friend raised concerns that the boy still had not awakened, Ward sent the twin girl to wake him and she discovered he was dead, Camden County Assistant Prosecutor Ira Slovin told Superior Court Judge Thomas Brown.

Riley "was utterly defenseless," Slovin said. He died a "slow, agonizing death."

A medical examiner ruled that Riley died from blunt trauma to the abdomen, likely from a kick or punch so severe it lacerated a kidney. The injury, which authorities believe was inflicted the day of the party, could not have been caused by a fall, the medical examiner concluded.

A neighbor identified Riley's mother as Nicole Akkad, an Iowa native and a single mother who also was raising 10-year-old twins.

The neighbor, Stephenie Eubanks, 34, accompanied Akkad during Riley's first haircut last month and bribed him with a lollipop to sit still, she recalled Friday.

"He was always happy," she said. "Even when he was cranky, he wasn't a bad kid."

Eubanks said the unemployed Ward stayed home with Riley and his sister, Addison, while Akkad worked as a home loan officer and part-time home spa consultant.

"She works hard," Eubanks said. "She's a good mother."

Akkad met Ward through a mutual friend about nine months ago and "trusted him fully," Eubanks said.

Akkad's older children also lived in her townhouse, but were in Iowa with their grandparents when Riley died. Akkad left on July 29 for a business trip to Dallas and Ward was to take care of the toddlers.

On July 31, police were called to the home about 5:30 p.m. after the children had been left in a bedroom with little supervision for 24 hours, authorities said.

Ward told police he was on the first floor with the boy's sister the previous afternoon when he heard Riley fall down the stairs leading from the second floor, Slovin said.

Riley was crying and rubbing his head, Ward told Slovin. He gave Riley a bag of ice for his head and he seemed fine, Ward told police. At dinner, however, he barely ate. Later, about 14 people came over for a "get-together."

Ward told police that when he checked the twins during the party, he saw that Riley had vomited in bed. Ward put the blanket in the washing machine and returned to his friends, according to officials.

Before he went to bed early the next morning, Ward told police, he saw Riley sleeping on the floor. The boy's sister was on the daybed.

A friend of Ward's had a different account. When she arrived at the townhouse about 5 p.m. the day of the party, Ward was asleep, she told police. She cleaned for about an hour and set up for beer pong, but never saw the children.

Another friend told authorities he arrived about 10:30 p.m. and went to a second-floor bedroom to smoke marijuana with Ward. The boy was lying on the floor.

When the friend woke up between 1 and 2 p.m. the following afternoon, he saw Ward come from the second floor carrying Addison, authorities said.

Ward fed Addison and asked his friend to make a plate for Riley, who he said was still sleeping. He then went out to buy cigarillos, authorities said.

The friend said he expressed concern when Riley still was not up at 5 p.m., and that's when Ward told Addison to wake her brother.

It was the friend who ran to the second floor when Addison could not rouse Riley, Slovin said, adding that the friend carried the girl from the room as another acquaintance dialed 911 to get help for Riley.

Ward remains in the Camden County Jail with bail set at $750,000.