116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Investigator tells court the Baseme brother was restrained 40 hours before dying
18-year-old was acting like ‘someone possessed,’ brother told police
Feb. 24, 2026 7:40 pm
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CEDAR RAPIDS — One of the brothers who tied his younger brother to a mattress — after that brother was having delusions of snakes breathing fire and was threatening to kill their family — told police his younger brother was constrained with ropes and straps for more than two days — about 40 hours — before he died in November 2024.
Christian Baseme, 30, during an interview with Cedar Rapids police, said he and two other brothers restrained their younger brother, Ezekiel Baseme, 18, with ropes, straps and eventually bedsheets because he was acting like “someone possessed.”
Ezekiel, he said, continued to fight them — even after Christian and his brother, Pierre, 27, “pinned” down Ezekiel — and that Ezekiel’s strength and energy began increasing during that struggle.
The three brothers decided to tie him down after Christian talked to their father. His father also suggested calling police, but Christian thought police would hurt Ezekiel because he was acting erratic.
While he was tied up, Ezekiel wanted something to drink or eat, which Pierre offered. But Christian said he thought it was a “ruse” by Ezekiel to get loose and run away, so Christian didn’t give him anything.
The prosecution rested Tuesday after a state medical examiner testified in the afternoon. Trial testimony started last Thursday in Linn County District Court.
The defense starts its case Wednesday, and closing arguments will be Thursday.
Christian and his brothers, Pierre, and Azane, 24, are charged with involuntary manslaughter, assault causing serious injury and false imprisonment. They are accused of unintentionally causing their brother’s death.
Police interview
Cedar Rapids police Investigator Sarah Lacina, who testified Tuesday, said that Christian told her during an interview that Ezekiel had acted out before but not as extreme as he did on Nov. 3, 2024.
Christian told her that Ezekiel had started having behavioral issues in 2022, which prevented him from graduating high school, and that he had started acting out and running away.
When Ezekiel started running away, which the family feared would lead to someone being harmed or Ezekiel being hurt, the brothers — Christian, Pierre and Azane — would keep Ezekiel inside their mobile home. The three brothers started watching over him in March 2024.
Christian said sometimes Ezekiel would sing gospel songs, read and be normal but other times he wouldn’t. One time he damaged the TV. Once when he ran away, he escaped out a window, later saying a “voice” told him to do those things.
A week of so before the brothers restrained Ezekiel, he ran away to a neighbor’s house, who threatened to shoot him, Christian told Lacine during the interview. .
Lacina said she asked Christian to demonstrate how he and his brothers had tied up Ezekiel when he was lying on a mattress. Another investigator played Ezekiel, lying down on the interview table.
Christian said they tied together his legs, just above the ankles, straps around his knees with his hands tied together in front of him. Then they tied ropes around his waist and secured those ropes over his hands and arms.
There were also ties placed around his chest, Christian said, but Ezekiel continued to fight. At that point, they tied his body and mattress to the bed frame.
After Christian called or texted his father, their father and their mother came over. The mother told them to untie the ropes and use bedsheets instead because the ropes were tearing Ezekiel’s skin. They used bedsheets but also left some ropes in place.
Christian asked Pierre to relieve him from watching over Ezekiel about 7 a.m. Nov. 4 but then Pierre started yelling for him to come back to the bedroom because Ezekiel wasn’t moving. Christian said they took off the ropes. Ezekiel’s head was warm but his chest was cold, he said.
They also moved him from the mattress to a back bedroom.
Christian told Lacina that Azane checked Ezekiel’s pulse, but Christian wasn’t sure he was alive, so he sent a text to their father. Pierre told police said Ezekiel wasn’t breathing.
Christian said his dad asked him, “What did you do to my kid?” Ezekiel seemed to be alive but was not breathing, which continued until Nov. 7, Christian told investigators.
Early on Nov. 5, Christian said their father thought they should call the police or take Ezekiel to the hospital but they didn’t do either. Christian thought Ezekiel was dead but their mother didn’t believe it.
He started smelling an odor from body Nov. 7 and knew the “situation not good.” Christian said they agreed not to call the police until the next morning.
Christian said before they called police the next day, they changed Ezekiel’s clothes because he had wet himself, and they also decided to clean up their mobile home.
Lacina asked Christian if he had experience dealing with someone who had died and he said no. He admitted to using Google to look up “what to do when someone dies in a home.”
Lacina asked about his relationship with Ezekiel. Christian said he loved him.
Lacina testified that police found text messages between Christian and the father regarding getting cleaning supplies. Christian asked how many rolls of paper towels were needed. There were also texts about buying rubber gloves, trash bags and not forgetting bleach.
‘Demon is back’ text message
On cross-examination, Lacina said she had to translate the texts, written in Kinyarwanda — an African language — into English. The brothers are originally from Africa.
The texts also helped Lacina put together a timeline of when they had tied up Ezekiel. They tied him up from about 9:06 a.m. or before on Nov. 4 to after 1 a.m. Nov. 6 — about 40 hours over two days.
The first text at 9:06 a.m. Nov. 4, 2024, had Christian saying, “The demon is back,” and his father replying, “What does it want?” Christian told him Ezekiel is fighting “really bad,” and his father suggested tying him up and said he was coming over.
On Nov. 6, when Christian texted his father and said things weren’t going well and Ezekiel wasn’t making noise, his father said to untie Ezekiel and “comfort him.”
He also told Christian to put lotion on his body.
One of the defense lawyers asked if Lacina had asked Christian about the demon reference. Lacina said she assumed he meant Ezekiel seeing a snake breathing fire.
Autopsy
Dr. Rory Deol, an associate state medical examiner, testified that Ezekiel died from “complications of probable starvation and dehydration in a setting of physical restraint.” The manner of death was homicide.
Deol said Ezekiel had contusions, abrasions and discolorations on his arms, legs and torso consistent with physical restraints. His body also showed moderate changes in decomposition. Ezekiel also had elevated acetone levels, which supports Ezekiel not being given food and water.
Deol said the physical restraints compounded the effects of the starvation and dehydration and contributed to his death. The physical restraints restricted his ability to get nutrition, he added.
On cross-examination, Deol said within a 48-hour period, it would be unlikely Ezekiel would have died from starvation without other factors — such as being tied down. However, he said, the restraints alone wouldn’t have caused his death.
Deol also testified that Ezekiel had no other diseases that would cause his death.
He agreed he couldn’t rule out starvation due to Ezekiel refusing food or dehydration because he had refused to drink water.
Trish Mehaffey covers state and federal courts for The Gazette
Comments: (319) 398-8318; trish.mehaffey@thegazette.com
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