GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A father accused of murdering a baby boy has a pattern of abuse, according to court documents and allegations from foster parents.
Greensboro police arrested Sterling Cummings on Monday in connection to the murder of his son. Reportedly isn’t the only one of his children he’s hurt.
Cummings made his first court appearance since his arrest on Tuesday at the Guilford County Courthouse. He was emotionless. Cummings sat in his orange jumpsuit with his hands in his lap and didn’t say a word unless the judge addressed him.
In the courtroom was the couple who adopted two of Cummings’ children, one of whose life has been changed forever.
“If he didn’t get caught this time, he would do it again,” said Tracy Trepcyk, the adoptive mother of one of Cummings’ biological sons.
Tracy and Allan Trepcyk walked out of the Guilford County Courthouse Tuesday afternoon after looking 33-year-old Sterling Cummings in the eyes in court.
“It was a flood of emotions,” Tracy said. “Just seeing him there I felt like, ‘Finally, after all this time, maybe there’ll be a little bit of justice.”
This week, Greensboro police charged Cummings with the May 2021 murder of his 3-month-old son Waylon Cummings. It happened at a home on Pepperbush Drive. Neighbors there remember the police cars lining the streets two years ago.
The couple who adopted Cummings’ first son, who he was convicted of abusing, never trusted the father.
“We tried to tell everybody that he was going to do this again,” Tracy said.
Law enforcement officials in Moore County say the boy, who was three and a half weeks old at the time, was shaken and suffered permanent brain damage. He’s blind and has cerebral palsy.
“I’ll never be able to wrap my arms around it,” said Allan, Andy’s adoptive father. “I just know that he is a dangerous individual, and he needs to be put away.”
A judge sentenced Cummings to 45 days in jail. Allan and Tracy hope this time around things will be different.
“I’m just hoping that…under this circumstance that they get this right,” Tracy said.
“Right” in their eyes is the maximum sentence of life without parole.
“You will answer to a higher power when your day comes, and I hope you rot,” Tracy said.
Cummings was charged with two separate counts of assault on a female in 2022.
