Roseville father pleads guilty to second-degree murder in 9-year-old adopted son’s death
A Roseville father on Friday pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the death of his 9-year-old adopted son, but the defendant’s wife and the boy’s adoptive mother will still stand trial accused of murder and torture in her son’s death.
Cory Albert Blakley, 38, and Kimberly Rachel Blakley, 38, were the adoptive parents of the boy who has been identified by his family as Cyrus Blakley. The Placer County District Attorney’s Office last year filed charges of murder, torture and child abuse against both parents in connection with his February 2024 death.
After testimony and evidence was presented in a three-day preliminary hearing in April, Judge Jeffrey Penney ordered the Blakleys to stand trial on the murder, torture and child abuse charges, along with felony charges of dissuading witnesses. The prosecutors allege the parents told the children not to speak truthfully to investigators. The Blakleys also face misdemeanor charges of child endangerment.
Cory Blakley, who has been held in custody for the past year, returned Friday morning to Placer Superior Court to plea guilty to the second-degree murder, along with an enhancement for committing the crime against a vulnerable victim. The murder conviction will guarantee him 15 years to life in prison.
The father also pleaded guilty to felony charge of dissuading a witness, which will result in a four-year prison sentence that will be served concurrently. He also pleaded guilty to six misdemeanor counts of child endangerment with a six-year prison sentence also to be served concurrently.
Assistant Chief Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Ow, one of the two prosecutors on the murder case, told the judge that the District Attorney’s Office will drop felony charges of torture and child abuse against Blakley when he is formally sentenced May 7.
Both the prosecutor and Blakley’s defense attorney, Barry Zimmerman, told the judge that Friday’s guilty plea was not the result of any “promises or considerations” in exchange for testimony against his wife in her pending trial. They said the only promise the prosecution made to the now-convicted father is the 15 years to life in prison sentence for the murder charge.
It’s unclear whether Cory Blakley will testify in his wife’s trial.
The boy’s death
The Blakleys had seven children — two biological children and five of whom were adopted. They all lived together in a home on New England Drive, just east of Sunrise Boulevard.
About 6 p.m. Feb. 2, 2024, officers and firefighters responded to a medical aid call at the family’s home. The officers found the boy unresponsive. Cyrus died three days later at UC Davis Medical Center in Sacramento.
The incident that led to Cyrus’ death began shortly after 5 p.m. on the family’s living room couch, where the mother placed the child between her legs in a “vice-grip-like hold,” pulled down his pants and hit his buttocks nine times, according to the prosecution. The boy was face down with his torso on a couch cushion while his mother was directly on top of him.
In court documents, prosecutors have said Ring-brand cameras installed inside the family’s Roseville home captured sounds of the mother “striking” the child and the boy’s “repeated apologies, gasps for breath and cries that he could not breathe, followed by silence.”
In the April preliminary hearing, prosecutors argued the mother was “exacting revenge” on Cyrus after he told his classmates or school officials that his dogs had died, and he was forced to take the pets outside.
Deputy District Attorney Andrew Braden, the other prosecutor on the murder case, told Judge Penney that the mother could be heard in the video repeatedly saying Child Protective Services was going to come and take the children away because Cyrus didn’t care about the family.
Prosecutors allege that the mother continued this abuse for about 40 minutes as the boy’s father did nothing to stop it.
Cyrus Blakley, who is identified in court documents as “CyB” or “CB,” died of “mechanical asphyxiation” and suffocated to death, Ow has argued in filed court documents.
“Dad (Cory Blakley) saw and heard the entire incident and never intervened,” Ow argued, “except to close a nearby window at mom’s request when the victim’s cries were too loud.”
Ow said the father walked past the couch to close the window. The window, which was closed about 20 minutes after the spanking began, was about 12 to 15 feet away from a neighbor’s home, according to the prosecutor.
Father’s failed motion to dismiss
Last summer, Cory Blakley’s attorney submitted a motion asking Judge Angus Saint-Evens to overturn Penney ruling. The father believed he shouldn’t face any charges in son’s death. Zimmerman argued it was solely his client’s wife who is responsible for the boy’s death.
In his June 21 motion to dismiss, the defense attorney said the prosecutors’ suggestion that the child’s death wouldn’t have happened had Cory Blakley intervened is “pure speculation.” In the filed motion to dismiss, Zimmerman said there’s no evidence to suggest Cory Blakley was aware that his son was likely to die from his mother’s spanking.
“It is unclear whether Mr. Blakley even heard any statement by (Cyrus) that he could not breathe,” Zimmerman argued in court documents. “Cory Blakley is not the actual killer. Further, the prosecution can present no evidence that he intended to kill the child or that he aided or abetted Kimberly in the commission of murder.”
The dissuading a witness charge against the father stems from what the prosecution said allegedly happened after the boy stopped breathing and his mother carried his limp body upstairs.
Ow has argued that video from Ring-brand cameras installed inside the home shows the couple’s 11-year-old biological daughter saying, “I wish mom never sat on him,” which her father responded with “Shut up.” The child is heard in one of the videos screaming expletives, the prosecutor said in court documents, and that at 6:34 p.m. Cory Blakley is heard saying “If you don’t want the cops to come, you need to stop yelling. Listen. Relax.”
Mother’s murder trial
On Friday, Blakley spoke briefly during the 20-minute hearing to tell Judge Suzanne Gazzaniga that he was pleading guilty and waiving his right to a jury trial freely and voluntarily. He also told the judge he understood the consequences of his conviction.
The prosecutor told the judge that the District Attorney’s Office will seek protective orders to keep the father away from Cyrus’ siblings, who are listed as victims in the misdemeanor child endangerment charges against both parents.
The defense attorney said he has two biological children listed as victims in those misdemeanor charge, one of whom lives with Cory Blakley’s parents. Zimmerman told the judge that he will ask the court that any protective orders be consistent with pending child custody orders.
On June 21, about five months after police arrested the Roseville married couple, Cory Blakley filed a petition in court seeking a divorce from his wife. That case in family court is scheduled for another hearing June 20.
Gazzaniga ordered that Cory Blakley remain in custody at the Placer County Jail. He’s being held without bail.
Kimberly Blakley also remains in custody without bail. She is scheduled to return to court April 18 to determine when her murder trial will start.
This story was originally published February 28, 2025 at 2:24 PM.
