Racine father speaks after toddler's death

GREENFIELD, Wis. - The family of a Racine 2-year-old is celebrating his life four months after he was killed.

On Sunday, loved ones of Joriel Ramirez got together at Konkel Park in Greenfield to remember him.

"We wanted to celebrate his life, not his death," said Jorge Ramirez, Joriel's father.

Ramirez said his son would have turned two on July 5, but it was too unbearable to celebrate at that time.

"It's still super painful," Ramirez said. "I couldn't do a whole ceremony or service to bury him because it was too painful, so I wanted to do this, which was at least a little more bearable."

Racine police said the toddler died in the hospital on May 27 from severe head injuries.

Court records said Joriel had bruising related to suspected child abuse.

Investigators said, on May 18, Joriel became unresponsive after being left alone with his mother's 28-year-old boyfriend, Jordan Keith. Prosecutors later charged Keith with first-degree reckless homicide.

"He literally destroyed everything I had," Ramirez said. "I want everyone to remember my son shouldn't have died."

Ramirez said he is going to continue showing up to every one of Keith's court appearances, and he is not going to stop fighting until his son gets justice.

"I would trade my life for him a million times over," Ramirez said. "He was the most special kid, and he didn't deserve it, and people like that, I don't know how they can live with themselves; they need to be put away."

Keith is still in the Racine County Jail with a $100,000 bond. A judge recently denied a request to lower that bond.

Ramirez said he also wants his son's mother to be charged after prosecutors said she initially lied to police about what happened to him and changed her story.

Dig deeper:

Through interviews and a review of surveillance footage from the boy's day care and outside the home, the complaint said investigators determined the 1-year-old was "acting normally with no indications of injury" when he was left in Keith's care for approximately 20 minutes. When the boy's mother returned, he was unresponsive.

Police interviewed Keith. Court filings said he initially claimed he was not home alone with the boy that day, but later admitted he was when confronted about the surveillance video. He denied hurting the boy, and said he was asleep when he woke up to the boy screaming.

Portions of this article were formatted using A.I. FOX6’s reporter and an editor reviewed it for accuracy and tone prior to publishing.