KALEB REDDOUT -18 Months (2011)- Cedar Falls IA

UPDATED: Neighbors react to murder charges in toddler death

May 16, 2011 10:31 PM CDT

CEDAR FALLS (KWWL) -



At first, police said an 18-month old boy was dead in a motel room was not suspicious. But Monday, the toddler's father was arrested for murder.

Back on April 4th, Cedar Falls Police were called to the Midway Studios Motel for a report of a child not breathing. 18-month-old Kaleb Reddout was taken to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Monday, Kaleb's father, 23-year-old Daniel Reddout, was booked on murder charges.

At first, the cause of little 18-month-old Kaleb's death was undetermined. But an autopsy later revealed the toddler had been suffocated in an apparent attempt by his father, Daniel, to put him to sleep. Those who live in Daniel Reddout's neighborhood are stunned and still saddened at a life lost too soon.

A mobile home in the 3200 block of Parkridge Road in Waterloo is where 18-month-old Kaleb Reddout lived part of the time with his father Daniel. Daniel Reddout is now behind bars, charged with killing his young son at a Cedar Falls motel back in April. Reddout's neighbors are having a hard time coming to terms with it all.

"It's just crazy for me to even think about it. He was in my back yard, you know, I mean literally five feet from my house," said neighbor Dale Ulfers.

Ulfers has a son close to Kaleb's age, and he can't imagine how any parent could possibly murder their own child.

"That's just sickening to even have.. I just can't even fathom to think of doing anything like that to a kid, you know," Ulfers said.

The news of Reddout's arrest is especially tough on his neighbor Linda Christie because she knows just what Kaleb's family must be going through. Nearly six years ago, her five-year-old granddaughter was murdered in Floyd County.

"I know exactly how they feel. They're in shock, disbelief. And I understand it's going to take a while to let that sink in," Christie said.

Christie says the pain of losing as a child in your family never goes away, and she hopes that Kaleb's loved ones will seek out help to cope with their loss, as she did through a homicide victims support group. For now, the tight knit neighborhood is just hoping that since an arrest has been made in Kaleb's death, that justice will be done.

Some neighbors also believe Reddout's history of drug use may have played a role in what happened to Kaleb. While police have not confirmed that, criminal records show that Reddout has previously been convicted of drug related charges.

This also isn't the first time Daniel Reddout has been in the news. In 2006, police say his mother and her boyfriend falsely report to the Waterloo Courier that the then 17-year-old had died, so they could take time off work from Tyson Foods. But Daniel was alive and well the whole time.

http://www.kwwl.com/story/14654594/waterloo-man-charged-in-death-of-toddler

Trial Postponed for Father Accused of Killing Son in Cedar Falls
Story Created: Aug 10, 2011 CDT
WATERLOO, Iowa - The trial for a man accused of abusing and killing his son has been postponed.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reports that Daniel "DJ" Reddout had been scheduled to go before a jury on first-degree murder and child endangerment charges last week, but the trial was delayed until Sept. 27 to allow more time to prepare.

Reddout, 23, of Waterloo, remains at the Black Hawk County Jail with bond set at $1 million.

Authorities said Reddout was looking after 18-month-old Kaleb Ryan Reddout April 4 at a University Avenue motel in Cedar Falls when the child was found unresponsive.

The boy later died, and police said Reddout told them he blocked the child's airway so it would sleep. He was arrested in May following an autopsy.

Murder carries a mandatory life sentence without parole under Iowa law, and the two child endangerment charges are punishable by up to 50 years in prison each.

Reddout has pleaded not guilty to the charges.

http://www.kcrg.com/news/local/Trial-Postponed-for-Father-Accused-of-Killing-Son-in-Cedar-Falls-127475293.html

2 area murder trials postponed

Posted: Monday, September 26, 2011 8:50 am

WATERLOO, Iowa --- Two Black Hawk County murder trials have been postponed.
Trials had been scheduled to begin Tuesday for Wyatt Chandler Johnson and Daniel "D.J." Reddout, who are charged with first-degree murder in unrelated incidents.
Both trials have been delayed, although new trial dates weren't immediately available Monday.
Reddout, 23 and of Waterloo, is accused of suffocating his 18-month-old son, Kaleb Ryan Reddout, in April at a Cedar Falls motel to make it sleep.
Johnson, 23, allegedly stabbed Kevin Garcia and two others during a fight at Exchange Park in 2009. Garcia, 18, died at the scene.
Johnson went to trial in August, but a judge declared a mistrial after about a week of testimony.


Read More: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/area-murder-trials-postponed/article_f78bcf1e-e846-11e0-8903-001cc4c002e0.html#ixzz1ZDHX6SIY

Trial moved to January for Waterloo man accused of killing son

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS First Posted: November 28, 2011 - 5:04 pm Last Updated: November 28, 2011 - 5:04 pm

WATERLOO, Iowa — Trial has been delayed for a Waterloo man accused of killing his 18-month-old son.

Daniel Reddout is charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment in the death of his son, Kaleb, in April.

The Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier (http://bit.ly/vCyiUQ ) says his trial, which had been set to start on Tuesday, has been moved to Jan. 17 in Black Hawk County District Court.

Police were sent to a Cedar Falls apartment on April 4 to investigate a report of a child not breathing. An autopsy showed he died of asphyxiation.

Authorities say Reddout cut off his son's airways to try to get him to sleep.

___

Information from: Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier, http://www.wcfcourier.com

1 murder trial a go; 2 others delayed in Black Hawk County
Tuesday, January 17, 2012 11:42 am
snipped....
Court officials postponed the trial of Daniel John "D.J." Reddout, 23, until March. He is charged with murder, child endangerment resulting in death and child endangerment/multiple acts in the death of his 18-month-old son, Kaleb Ryan Reddout, Authorities said the father cut off the child's airway to try to get him to go to sleep in April.

Read More: http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/murder-trial-a-go-others-delayed-in-black-hawk-county/article_3fb3b14a-4133-11e1-97d2-001871e3ce6c.html#ixzz1jpNEQ3Tk

Accused child killer has trial delayed again

Posted: Friday, May 4, 2012 1:15 pm

WATERLOO, Iowa --- A man accused of killing his son has had his trial delayed.

Daniel “D.J.” Reddout, 24, was scheduled to go to trial
Tuesday for first-degree murder, child endangerment resulting in death
and multiple acts of child endangerment.

But on Friday he appeared in Black Hawk County District Court and waived his right to a trial within one year of being charged.

Judge George Stigler set a tentative trial date for July 17.

The delay will allow more time to prepare for trial.
Depositions of witnesses have not been completed, and the defense is
having tissue samples collected during the autopsy of Reddout’s
18-month-old son, Kaleb Reddout, reviewed by an expert, according to
Assistant Public Defender Matthew Hoffey.

Police said Reddout admitted cutting off his son’s
breathing to make him sleep. The alleged incident happened while Reddout
was visiting friends April 4, 2011, at Midway Studios on University
Avenue in Cedar Falls. He was arrested in May 2011.

Reddout remains at the Black Hawk County Jail pending trial.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/accused-child-killer-has-trial-delayed-again/article_7bcc93c8-9614-11e1-b79c-0019bb2963f4.html#ixzz1txA51yHF

Thursday, Oct. 11, 2012

2013 trial for Iowa man charged in son's death

WATERLOO, Iowa —

It will be next year before a Waterloo man accused of killing his infant 18-month-old son goes on trial.
Twenty-three-year-old Daniel Reddout is charged with first-degree murder and child
endangerment in the death of his son, Kaleb, in April 2011.

KWWL-TV (http://bit.ly/OrsoHH ) says Reddout appeared in Black Hawk County
District Court on Thursday, where his trial was set for April 4.

Police were called to a Cedar Falls apartment to investigate a report of a
child not breathing. An autopsy showed the boy died of asphyxiation.

Authorities say Reddout cut off his son's airways to get him to sleep.

http://www.foxreno.com/news/ap/crime/2013-trial-for-iowa-man-charged-in-sons-death/nSbC3/

UPDATE: Testimony begins in DJ Reddout murder trial


Jeff Reinitz
Daniel "D.J." Reddout is accused of suffocating his son, Kaleb Reddout, pictured, while choking him out to make him sleep in April 2011. Photographed during Daniel Reddout's trial Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2013, in Waterloo, Iowa.

September 18, 2013 10:00 pm 






WATERLOO, Iowa --- A Nebraska woman recounted how she attempted to resuscitate a 17-month-old boy after he was found lifeless in her friend's Cedar Falls motel room.

"He was cold, kind of clammy. I got no response. He felt different, not like a normal child," Kimberly Matchett told jurors Thursday as trial started for Daniel John "D.J." Reddout.

Reddout, 24, is charged with first-degree murder, child endangerment causing death and child endangerment multiple acts in the 2011 death of his son, Kaleb.

Prosecutors said Reddout killed his son when he "choked out" the boy to get him to sleep while visiting friends at the motel room on April 4, 2011. A medical examiner ruled the boy had died of asphyxiation, according to Assistant County Attorney Brook Jacobsen.

Reddout has pleaded not guilty to the charges, but his defense team declined to outline their case during opening statements.
Matchett and friend Dana Hacker told jurors that Kaleb appeared to be a normal toddler earlier that day, playing with pit bull puppies in the room at Midway Studios on University Avenue, but he resisted nap time that afternoon.

His mother, Stephanie Burt, was unable to get him to sleep on a bed in the room, so the parents arranged a sleeping area in a corner behind the door with a jacket and a comforter.

Burt asked Reddout to help put the boy to sleep before she left for college classes, witnesses said. Reddout laid down next to him, according to one witness, sat with him, according to another, until he was quiet.

"He was frustrated. He wanted his son to go to sleep," Matchett said. "He hollered at him a couple times.

About two hours later, they became concerned, and Reddout checked on Kaleb.

"He kind of starts freaking out. He grabs him like a rag doll. He has one arm and one leg and he's just dangling him away from his body, and he walk around the corner, and he's hollering 'why, why.' Little Kaleb has yellow skin with pink blotches all over his whole body," Matchett said.

She called 911, and emergency dispatchers talked her through CPR.

Paramedic Jeff Bond arrived on the scene a short time later. Bond told jurors he knew the prospects weren't good after finding Kaleb cold to the touch and noticing lividity, where blood had inside the child's back.

"Normally, we don't get people back from cardiac arrest," Bond said. He said he continued attempts to revive him anyway "Part of being a paramedic is being optimistic and doing the best you can and trying as much as you can to make a difference," Bond said.

Authorities said Kaleb was officially pronounced dead at the hospital.

Jacobsen said Reddout first denied doing anything more than patting the child but later admitted he used a special method to get him to sleep.

"Pressure on the child's back, his elbow on Kaleb's back, his body weight pressing down on him, pressure to the child's jaw, this trick he learned where he puts his hand beneath his jaw, pulls up on his head forcing to close his mouth," Jacobsen said.

He said Reddout demonstrated the technique on a doll during a police interview, telling investigators he was always careful about the amount of pressure because he didn't want to break the child's neck.

"You will hear medical testimony that this is not sleep. This is unconscious, at best. And on this particular day, this was death," Jacobsen said.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/update-testimony-begins-in-dj-reddout-murder-trial/article_12c8bf76-208f-11e3-92ef-0019bb2963f4.html

Reddout attorney questions officers on interrogation

WATERLOO | Attorneys for Daniel Reddout cross examined investigators with the Cedar Falls Police Department as Reddout's murder trial wound do… Read more

He sure postponed it for a long time.  Glad it's finally going to trial.

Autopsy shows Kaleb Reddout was asphyxiated


DENNIS MAGEE / Courier
Dr. Resmiye Oral testified Monday that Kaleb Reddout likely became lethargic when his father, Daniel Reddout, applied a choke hold. "I doubt that it was a peaceful sleep. It can't be," she added.
5 hours ago  • 

WATERLOO | The medical examiner who performed the autopsy on Kaleb Reddout said she suspected asphyxiation in the 17 month old's death.
Associate State Medical Examiner Michele Catellier told jurors said child's swollen brain and petechiae --- marks from burst capillaries often cause by pressure --- on his face and upper chest pointed to suffocation, but she wasn't able to find any marks on the neck or other injuries that would definitively point to a cause of death.

But the account that the child's father, Daniel John Reddout, gave to Cedar Falls police investigators was consistent with what she saw, and she ruled the Kaleb's death was homicide by asphyxiation.

On Monday, the state rested its case against Reddout, 24, of Waterloo, calling Catellier and Dr. Resmiye Oral, director of the Child Protection Center at the University of Iowa, as its final witnesses.

Prosecutors said Reddout asphyxiated the 17 month old while trying to get him to sleep while visiting friends in a Cedar Falls motel room.

Reddout initially denied any wrongdoing when interviewed by police but eventually told investigators he had pressed against the child's back while lifting his jaw to limit in breathing. He demonstrated on a doll for officers, and Catellier reviewed a video tape of the interview as part of her probe.
"The description was helpful in confirming my suspicion that the death, in my option, was due to asphyxia and having some understanding of the mechanism of that," Catellier said.

Oral and Catellier said they weren't able to pinpoint exactly how Kaleb died but said pressure on the child's back could have restricted his chest so he couldn't take in breath and hands around the jaw or neck could have cut off his airway or impeded the flow of blood in the carotid artery.

"A number of these mechanisms might have been in effect when the child was handled that way," Oral said.

Reddout told police he had used the technique to put Kaleb to sleep a number of times. Oral said what likely happened was his method made Kaleb pass out or go into lethargic state, and the child then fell asleep from exhaustion.

"I don't know exactly the mechanism here, but I think the fact it had be done before is just supportive that this contributed to his ultimate demise. We know that, from the story, that Kaleb had gone to sleep, and when I say 'go to sleep' I mean probably passed out with that activity. And it all makes sense to me, as a forensic pathologist, that this time it was too long or too much force," Catellier said.

Catellier said she did find a number of bruises on the child's forehead but ruled them out as contributing to the death. She also noticed what appeared to be a dog bite on the nose, possibly from pit bull puppies that were in the motel room, and said the bite may have been postmortem.

The defense has yet to outline its case, but during Monday's testimony it was revealed the defense plans to call a doctor who has opined Kaleb may have died after becoming wrapped in a coat and blanket he was sleeping on.

http://wcfcourier.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/autopsy-shows-kaleb-reddout-was-asphyxiated/article_e01521f5-54ee-57a7-b4cf-95d0d5065532.html?comment_form=true

Jurors convict Waterloo man of involuntary manslaughter in death of 17-month-old son


THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

 
September 27, 2013 - 3:02 pm EDT


WATERLOO, Iowa — A Black Hawk County jury on Friday convicted a Waterloo man of manslaughter and other charges in the death of his 17-month-old son.

Daniel John Reddout stood quietly as the jury's verdict was read, the Waterloo-Cedar Falls Courier reported.

He was charged with first-degree murder, which carries a mandatory life sentence. But jurors convicted him of involuntary manslaughter and other less serious charges, including child endangerment causing death and child endangerment multiple acts, Sentencing hasn't been scheduled.

The charges stem from the April 2011 death of Kaleb Reddout at a Cedar Falls motel. Prosecutors told jurors that Reddout choked his son in an effort to put him down for a nap with a technique he frequently used in which he would lift the child's jaw and apply pressure to the back of his neck.

The state medical examiner ruled Kaleb died of asphyxia and ruled the death a homicide.

Defense lawyers said it wasn't clear why Kaleb died.

The only defense expert, Dr. Amy Gruszecki, a forensic pathologist from Dallas, said that after reviewing Kaleb's autopsy, she considered the cause of death to be undetermined.

"It may possibly be accidental. But we don't know exactly what happened, or at least I don't know what happened after reviewing all these materials," Gruszecki told jurors Tuesday. "'Undetermined' would probably be what I would come up with given all the information I received."

Prosecutors said it was Reddout who raised the possibility that his sleep technique had caused his son's death.

"It's no coincidence that the medical evidence and the medical testimony support every one of those things that the defendant said," Assistant County Attorney Linda Fangman said in closing arguments.

http://www.therepublic.com/view/story/c10cdfbeab714780bc919a8362c8c34e/IA--Child-Death-Conviction

Finally!!!

How sick. He should of gotten a more serious charge. I hope the Judge sentences him on consecutive charges and not concurrently. I would have cuddled and sang and whispered songs in that little baby's ear to help him sleep. :-(

Me too Tina.  How do these monsters think of these things to do to these poor little precious, helpless babies?  He needs to spend his life in prison, without parole.  I hope the judge sees that.

Many judges don't put the value on a baby's life and give light sentences.  I'm often upset and disgusted at how little time these murderers and pedophiles receive.

Recently a judge gave a guy 30 day for forcible raping a 14 year old girl.  The girl had committed suicide afterwards yet the pedophile got 30 days.  The stupid judge said the girl was "older than her chronological age".  People like that don't belong on the bench.

Daniel Reddout, guilty of killing son, gets 50 years

Posted: Oct 28, 2013 12:52 PM EST Updated: Oct 28, 2013 1:08 PM EST


WATERLOO (KWWL) -

A father found guilty of killing his 18-month old son will spend 50 years in prison.

A Black Hawk County jury found Daniel Reddout guilty of involuntary manslaughter and two counts of child endangerment.

Reddout's young son, Caleb, died at a motel in April 2011 while in Reddout's care.

On Monday, the judge sentenced him to 50 years, saying he didn't intend to kill his son, but what he did was foolish and bad parenting.

Reddout addressed the court Monday saying he hopes to stay clean and take parenting classes.

"In my mind and in my heart, I will always serve a life sentence," Reddout said. "I understand my boy paid the ultimate price for my actions. I assure you, I never meant for this to happen. If I knew I was hurting my boy, I would have never done it."

Reddout may appeal, but it is unclear if that will happen.

http://www.kwwl.com/story/23807630/2013/10/28/daniel-reddout-guilty-of-killing-son-gets-50-years

I don't know what Iowa's parole laws are.  Hope he spends the full 50 years in prison.

Taking parenting classes in prison.  What a laugh.  Who will he parent next?  Do they teach you not to smother your children in parenting classes?