Milwaukee, WI: Milwaukee grandmother charged in baby's death had killed her husband

July 15, 2011

Empty Cradles
The Journal Sentinel this year is taking on an issue we have too long ignored - the death of children before their first birthday. Infant mortality is a crisis not just of public health, but of ethics and morality. The rate at which infants die in our city is unacceptable. In 2011 we will examine the problem and point to solutions.

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A woman who police say killed her 10-month-old grandson by spiking his bottle with morphine was convicted of shooting the infant's grandfather to death in the late 1980s, according to court documents obtained Friday by the Journal Sentinel.

Lisa Humphrey, 46, is charged in a complaint with killing her grandson, Royality Sanders, whose body was found April 28 on the mattress he had shared the night before with Humphrey and his 2-year-old sister. A warrant has been issued for her arrest, according to court documents.

A jury found Humphrey guilty in July 1989 of shooting her husband, Curtis Humphrey, in the back and in the throat as he tried to leave their apartment building in the spring of 1988, according to court records.

Humphrey, convicted of what was then called second-degree murder, faced up to 20 years in prison. Then-Milwaukee County Circuit Judge Michael Skwierawski sentenced her to six years.

Queentesta Humphrey is Royality's 24-year-old mother and the daughter of Lisa and Curtis Humphrey. In other words, her mother has been convicted of killing her father and is charged with killing her son.

"I am near to having a nervous breakdown," Queentesta Humphrey said.

She said she and her siblings were placed in foster care after her father was killed.

A child when her mother was released, Queentesta Humphrey said she was the only one in her family that would have anything to do with her mother.

She said she has been taking care of her mother, who suffers from back pain, for the last several years.

"I can't understand why she would do this," she said.

Arguing about shoes

In the early evening of April 8, 1988, according to court records, Lisa Humphrey and her husband were arguing over a pair of shoes. Curtis Humphrey wanted to know where his wife had found the money to buy them. Lisa Humphrey told police he slapped her and wrestled with her on their bed.

Lisa Humphrey told police she called her husband's mother, who came to their apartment in the 700 block of W. Galena St.

As her mother-in-law was talking to her husband, Lisa Humphrey took a handgun from his car, according to a complaint.

She told police that she closed her eyes and opened fire on her husband as he was heading down a flight of stairs.

He climbed back up the stairs, went back into their apartment and collapsed on the floor, the complaint says.

In the recent death, Lisa Humphrey told police that she was baby-sitting Royality and his sister in an apartment she shared with their mother in the 5100 block of N. 47th St., according to a complaint.

Humphrey said she fed her grandson from a yellow bottle before putting him to sleep on the mattress.

The Milwaukee County medical examiner's office tested the contents of the bottle and found that it contained morphine. A blood screen of Royality tested positive for both opiates and oxycodone, the complaint says.

Humphrey is charged with first-degree reckless homicide. If convicted, she faces up to 60 years in prison.