18-year-old died after being tied down to mattress; 3 brothers charged in death

CEDAR RAPIDS — Three brothers were arrested Friday on pending charges, including involuntary manslaughter, for tying their 18-year-old brother to a mattress in November when they thought he was having a schizophrenic episode. He eventually stopped breathing and died.

  Buy Photo

Ezekiel Baseme had been dead a few days when police were called Nov. 9, 2024 by family members, according to an unsealed search warrant found by The Gazette Friday, after police announced the arrests.

Ezekiel’s three brothers, Christian F. Baseme, 29, Pierre K. Baseme, 26, Azane E. Baseme, 23, all of Cedar Rapids, face charges of involuntary manslaughter, assault causing serious injury and false imprisonment. All three were booked into the Linn County Jail on Friday. They could be formally charged Saturday.

There are no criminal complaints available, but an unsealed search warrant provided details of the crime.

Police were called after midnight Nov. 9, 2024 to 2504 Roemig St. SW for an unresponsive person. Officers found and identified Ezekiel, who lived with his family at this address. He appeared to have been dead for an “extended amount of time,” according to the search warrant.

Ezekiel, his brothers and sister lived at this residence.

  Buy Photo

The family told officers that on Nov. 3, Ezekiel, who is schizophrenic, was having “an episode and was acting erratic.” He stopped eating and wasn't sleeping.

Two days later, on Nov. 5, he became aggressive and two brothers tied him to a mattress in the back bedroom, the warrant affidavit stated. The brothers noticed he was lying still, wasn’t making noise, and stopped resisting the ropes between Nov. 5 and 6.

He had been left tied to the mattress until Nov. 7, when they noticed he had “little to no pulse,” according to the affidavit. They thought his was “slightly stiff” and his head was cold. They removed the ropes from his body and moved him to a bed. They then placed the ropes in a shed, the affidavit states.

By Nov. 8, the family determined he had died, but didn’t call police until Nov. 9, 2024.

The affidavit states investigators learned that the homeowner, Christian Baseme had installed and maintained cameras at this residence. A total of five cameras were identified by Investigators, including exterior cameras at the front door, back door, southwest corner of the trailer home, front of the trailer home and on the shed. A search warrant was obtained for cameras or USB data from the cameras.

  Buy Photo

Investigators also obtained statements from Joseph Mbalama, the father; from the three brothers arrested; and from Fatuma Baseme, a sister. All said Ezekiel had been acting erratically over the past two weeks, including hallucinating — seeing snakes and dragons, according to the warrant affidavit.

On Nov. 5, Ezekiel had a violent episode and he was talking about snakes and fire that were not in the room, the family told investigators. They said Ezekiel told them the snakes were breathing fire and were all around the walls and floor.

He also acted out violently against Christian Baseme and made several attempts to punch him. Ezekiel made threats to harm or kill his family members in the previous week and said he wanted to die, according to the affidavit.

The family also said Ezekiel had run away from home and climbed out of the window of the home during the middle of the night. In that episode, he threatened neighbors.

The family said he was restrained because before this episode, Ezekiel asked his family to kill him and they were concerned he would kill them and take his own life. They didn’t want to hurt him.

However, when Ezekiel broke out of the first ropes they used to tie him down, the family found some yellow ratchet straps to secure him to the bed. The straps were placed around his arms, waist and legs, but nothing around his neck or head, the affidavit states.

Pierre and Christian told investigators they tied down Ezekiel on Nov. 5 and left him tied down until Nov. 7.

Christian and Pierre both have training in CPR and de-escalation training through their employers, To The Rescue and Caring Hands. When asked why they untied him, Pierre said “the kid’s not breathing,” according to the affidavit.

At that point, the family determined Ezekiel wasn’t breathing and called police, but he was already dead when officers and medical personnel arrived.

Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com