When initial reports Monday said that Je’Loni Smith, 2, drowned in a bathtub, his autopsy told another story.

The boy had been beaten all over his body, but there was no water in his lungs, a county forensic pathologist noted. His death was ruled a homicide from blunt force trauma.

Ricky D. Larkin, aka Iman Kelly, of Matteson, was charged Wednesday in the death of Je’Loni, his on-and-off girlfriend’s son.

He is in custody being held without bail.

Gary police responded on Nov. 4 to the 300 block of Arthur Street, Indiana State police Detective Gary Runde, of the Lake County Prosecutor’s Task Force, wrote.

His autopsy noted bruises on his face, left temple, forehead, back, right buttock and abdomen. The boy had scrapes on his neck and chest, with cuts on his liver, a right adrenal rupture and a scalp hemorrhage.

His back looked like he was beaten repeatedly and he had one eye swollen shut, court records state, according to charging documents.

The boy’s hair was dry. Despite 8 inches of water in the tub, the floor was also dry. Police said the bedroom was wrecked and took a small aluminum bat there as evidence.

The boy’s mother told police she was hospitalized the prior day. She was “afraid for her children,” calling Larkin “abusive” and noted he zeroed in on the boy specifically.

She alleged he didn’t feed or bathe her kids when he watched them. Larkin called her telling her to get them, because he had “stuff to do,” according to the affidavit.

He “sounded high,” she said.

Larkin told cops the woman called him. He told her he had things to do and she promised to send a friend to look after the kids.

While he put the boy in the bath, he told investigators he stepped out for 2-3 minutes to take a call. When he returned, the child was “lying down sideways” in the tub.

He claimed the boy bit his lip as tried CPR. He called 911.

When investigators asked if he would beat a child for peeing or vomiting on the bed, Larkin said he didn’t beat kids and wasn’t a child abuser.

He admitted he was the only adult there.

He had done “dirt” before and told cops he believed it was “karma” for his past. Larkin asked multiple questions about the autopsy findings.

After he consented to a cellphone search, cops found a text threat between him and the child’s mother, according to court documents.

In a jail call on Nov. 5, he admitted he was high when the boy died.

mcolias @post-trib.com