A former Virginia college basketball standout will spend the next 20 years behind bars for the death of his 3-year-old son.
Last week, a Virginia state circuit court judge mandated a 20-year sentence for Kassceen Weaver, a former basketball standout at the University of Richmond, for the 2018 killing of his son, Eliel Adon Weaver.
Court records obtained by Law&Crime indicate that Weaver was found guilty by a jury of felony murder, felony child neglect, and concealing a dead body.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Weaver and the child’s mother, Dina, were both initially charged with conspiracy to conceal a body and failing to render aid to a child. Prosecutors later dropped the charges against Dina after determining she, too, had been an abuse victim at the hands of Weaver.
Prosecutors revealed that the child endured numerous fractures, including a fractured skull and humerus, on the night of his death.
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“Adon was a helpless child,” Chesterfield Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Joshua Loren said, according to the Richmond-Dispatch. “And (Weaver) refused to do anything.”
After the victim’s death, Weaver him hidden until 2021, when investigators found his body stuffed inside a freezer at Weaver’s Chesterfield home.
Under oath, Dina said that on the night of Eliel’s death, Weaver called her and claimed the child had lost consciousness and stopped breathing. He attempted CPR but declined to seek medical help when his efforts proved unsuccessful.
Dina added that Weaver had a history of hitting Eliel with a belt.
Investigators were alerted after Dina’s brother contacted police in 2021, with concerns that Weaver had been abusing her. The brother mentioned that Dina said something about a “deceased son” who had passed away in 2018.
The brother told police that his sister said Weaver placed the body in the freezer “due to bruising” and the body beginning to smell. Investigators said they found the body dressed in adult clothing and wrapped up in twine, a tote bag, and placed in a plastic container.
Weaver had initially faced a 55-year maximum prison sentence.
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[Feature Photo: Eliel Adon Weaver/Family Handout]
