A former 2025 America’s Got Talent contestant who was recently arrested and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the drowning death of his four-year-old nephew made his first court appearance on Tuesday morning (Sept.8). According to News 9 ABC in Chattanooga, Tenn., DeShundre Vinson, 22, who performed with his Chicago-based R&B vocal group CitiLimitz on the show last year, has spent the past week in a local jail after the incident that reportedly took place on Aug. 16.
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Chattanooga Police said Vinson was responsible for babysitting his four-year-old nephew, as well as the child’s six-year-old brother and other children on that day and was not present when the youngest child spent approximately nine minutes underwater. Investigators said Vinson let the two young boys walk around two-tenths of a mile to the apartment complex pool without any adult supervision, according to an affidavit.
Police were reportedly already at the apartment complex that day on an unrelated call when officers heard screaming from the pool area. When they arrived on scene, they found people performing CPR on the four-year-old after a bystander pulled the child out of the water. A review of surveillance footage reportedly showed the child walking from the edge of the pool to deeper water, with the affidavit reporting that the boy could be seen struggling before going underwater, where he remained for approximately nine minutes. The child was rushed to a local hospital, where he died on Aug. 21.
According to the station, local police said that after the drowning Vinson and the person who held the lease at his apartment left the area and could not be found. Police finally spotted Vinson two and a half weeks later at a different home in Chattanooga, where they promptly took him to the Hamilton County jail, where bond was set at $750,000. Investigators said in the affidavit that Vinson sent messages to the boys’ mother acknowledging that he was not supervising the children at the pool — which reportedly had a sign warning that children under 14 should not use it without an adult nearby —and that he had a delayed response to the drowning, according to 9 News.
Vinson, who has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and three counts of aggravated child abuse, reportedly moved out of the apartment shortly after the drowning, along with the unnamed person on the lease. Vinson appeared in court on the matter Tuesday morning and, according to Local 3 News, he waived the ten-day rule, which requires a preliminary hearing to be held within 10 days in criminal cases where the defendant can’t make bond. A preliminary hearing is now set for Nov. 16.
Vinson (who performs under the name Dre) and his cousins, Marionn and A.T., impressed judges on AGT last year with their cover of K-Ci and JoJo’s “All My Life,” earning a standing ovation from judges Howie Mandel and Mel B; the group were eliminated in the quarterfinal rounds.
