Placer judge sets murder trial for mom accused in adopted 9-year-old son’s death
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- A judge scheduled Kimberly Blakley's murder trial to begin April 13.
- Cory Blakley pleaded guilty and is serving 15 years to life in prison.
- Prosecutors allege the mother suffocated the boy which led to his death from brain injury.
A Placer Superior Court judge on Friday scheduled a trial to begin in April for a Roseville mother accused of murder in the death of her adopted 9-year-old son.
Kimberly Rachel Blakley, 39, is charged with murder, torture and child abuse in the February 2024 death of adopted her son, Cyrus Blakley. The mother returned to Placer Superior Court for a brief hearing Friday morning.
Judge Suzanne Gazzaniga scheduled Blakely’s trial to begin April 14, 2026. The attorneys estimated the trial could last 15 days. Blakley remains in custody at the Placer County Jail.
Gazzaniga also scheduled Blakley to return to court Oct. 3, when the attorneys will have another opportunity to reach a plea deal and resolve the murder case.
At a hearing in June, Brad Whatcott, the attorney representing the accused mother, told the judge that he had made an offer for a plea deal on behalf of his client.
Her husband and the boy’s adoptive father, Cory Albert Blakley, 39, pleaded guilty to a charge of second-degree murder in late February, along with an enhancement for committing the crime against a vulnerable victim in connection with Cyrus’ death.
The Blakleys had seven children, two biological children and five who were adopted. They all lived together in a home on New England Drive, just east of Sunrise Boulevard in Roseville.
About 6 p.m. on 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, according to court records. Prosecutors have said Kimberly Blakley sat on the boy, spanking and suffocating him face down on the couch for about 40 minutes while he cried for help and gasped for air.
The mother was angry because Cyrus told others at school about a dead dog at their home. She is heard on video security cameras installed inside the home saying Child Protective Services was going to come and take the children away because Cyrus didn’t care about the family, according to the Placer County District Attorney’s Office.
Prosecutors have argued in court that Cory Blakley stood in the kitchen and did nothing to stop his wife as he watched her brutally punish the boy. They said the abuse caused the boy to become comatose due to brain injury and to suffer paralysis.
Along with the murder charge, Cory Blakley pleaded guilty to a felony charge of dissuading a witness and six misdemeanor counts of child endangerment in connection with his son’s death. The boy’s siblings were in the home when he was punished by his mother.
A judge in May sentenced the father to 15 years to life in prison. On Friday, he was serving his sentence at Wasco State Prison in Kern County.
