Baby’s injuries described in Allen murder case

Published 8:56 am Thursday, August 13, 2026

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Deavan Williams

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Alexandrae Price

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Tina Price

SCOTTSVILLE — The medical examiner who conducted the autopsy on 1-year-old Mason Moulding documented rectal injuries that included a perforated colon, according to a detective who testified in an ongoing murder case related to the child’s death.

Moulding was pronounced dead July 27 at The Medical Center in Scottsville, soon after police were called to a house on Cottage Drive where the child was reportedly unresponsive.

Deavan Williams, 22, is charged with murder and first-degree criminal abuse in connection with the child’s death, with police claiming that Mason was in Williams’ care when the death occurred.

The child’s mother Alexandrae Price, 22, is charged with first-degree criminal abuse, and Mason’s grandmother, Tina Price, 51, is charged with first-degree criminal abuse as well as two counts of knowingly abuse/neglect of adult by a person and 15 counts of second-degree cruelty to animals.

All three co-defendants appeared Wednesday in Allen District Court for preliminary hearings in their criminal cases, which ended with Allen District Judge Martha Harrison finding probable cause to send each case to the grand jury.

Detective Ryan Dillon of the Scottsville Police Department testified at Williams’ hearing that a cause of death has not yet been identified, but doctors at the Kentucky Office of the Medical Examiner observed some concerning injuries to Mason’s body at the autopsy he attended, noting bruises and describing the rectal injuries as recent trauma.

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“(Doctors) identified the trauma to the rectal area of the body as consistent with criminal trauma and not consistent with a normal childhood injury,” Dillon said while questioned by Allen County Attorney Hallye Arterburn.

Dillon said he documented conditions at the house when he responded, saying that Williams, Alexandrae Price and Mason lived together in the basement area of the home, in a room infested with roaches, spiders and other bugs.

Rotten food, soiled diapers, stained furniture and a leaking sewer pipe were documented by authorities.

Police learned from Williams and Alexandrae Price that Mason bathed in a kiddie pool outside the home near a heap of used diapers, with water being drawn from a nearby hose, with no other water access to anyone living in the basement.

Dillon said he gathered evidence that the child appeared to be healthy in video footage taken of him and Alexandrae Price from a grocery store a few hours before police were called to the home, and that no health problems or injuries were reported by doctors when Mason was taken to a Bowling Green clinic five days before his death.

Williams reportedly told police that he was watching the child that night after Alexandrae Price left to go to work, and described leaving the child at home to sleep for about 20 minutes while he brought a pair of shoes to Alexandrae Price at her workplace, Dillon said.

When he returned home, Williams took a brief nap and reported being awakened by hearing what sounded like Mason falling, which led Williams to take the child upstairs and attempt to perform CPR, Dillon said.

The detective interviewed Williams on three separate occasions, and he proved to be forthcoming, with Dillon testifying that Williams reported inserting four or five Q-tips at a time into the child’s rectum in an apparent attempt to relieve constipation.

Dillon described the conditions at the home as “disgusting” and questioned Williams about them.

“Mr. Williams himself admitted that he knew the living conditions at the house were not acceptable at all,” Dillon testified, adding later that he questioned why Williams did not attempt to clean the home. “He basically said he was not the father and there were certain things he could not do.”

Dillon said police charged Williams with murder based on inconsistent statements he made regarding how the baby became unresponsive and on evidence that Mason was in Williams’ care the night of the child’s death.

Detective Wayde Knox of the Allen County Sheriff’s Office testified at Alexandrae Price’s preliminary hearing that Price told investigators that she was aware that Williams fed the child extremely spicy foods and allegedly inserted Q-tips and, on one occasion, a water hose into the child’s rectum.

Dillon noted that a large amount of water was found in the child’s abdominal cavity at the time of autopsy.

Knox testified that police interviewed witnesses who described Alexandrae Price as a caring mother, but also said that Mason was living in a home with “multiple hazards to his health.”

According to Knox, Alexandrae Price moved into the home about a month before the child’s death, saying she was removing the child from a home life with his father that included drug use and domestic violence.

Tina Price lived in the upstairs portion of the home with two adult sons who have special needs.

Court records document similar living conditions in the upper floor as what police reportedly encountered in the basement.

Williams’ attorney, Christy Hiance of the Department of Public Advocacy, argued that there was no evidence to show that Williams intended to inflict fatal injuries or otherwise cause Mason’s death, but Harrison allowed the murder charge to be presented to the grand jury.

Alexandrae Price’s court-appointed attorney, Zanda Myers, argued that Price had not committed an intentional act of abuse against the child, while Arterburn countered that Price allowed Williams to care for the child while being aware of the hazardous living conditions at the home.

“I do believe a parent has a special responsibility to entrust their children only to people can suitably care for them,” Harrison said while binding Alexandrae Price’s case over to the grand jury.