Unnamed Newborn - 6 Weeks (2009) - Seattle WA

by TomTerrific0420 Tue Mar 09, 2010 5:23 pm

Police documents released Monday reveal additional details about the
possible shaking death of an infant boy last fall -- a case that has
been investigated for months by the Seattle police homicide unit.
The child died Sept. 16 -- about six weeks after he was born.
The King County Medical Examiner has not determined his manner of
death. The case was a cerebral hemorrhage and the premature death of
cells and tissue from an undetermined cause.
About 9:30 a.m. Sept. 4, police responded to the call of a sick infant. The boy was found limp and unresponsive.
Fire Department crews started CPR, and the boy was rushed to Seattle
Children's Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a severe brain injury
involving multiple hemmorages and swelling.
"There was no skull fracture," Homicide Detective Jeffrey Mudd wrote
in a police document. "Colton was showing "abnormal movements" that
were possibly seizures. Seattle Children's doctors determined that the
most likely mechanism of injury was a violent shaking."
The parents, who are not being named because they have not been arrested or charged, were interviewed separately by detectives.
The father, 24, told police he woke up with the boy about 1 a.m.
that morning, fed and changed him, then put him back to bed. He said
the infant woke up again between 6:30 and 7 a.m., and would not stop
crying.
"(The father) stated that he attempted to rock (the boy) and changed
him twice, but he would not calm down," Mudd wrote. He claimed he gave
the boy some medicine and his cries became softer.
The father them claimed the boy went limp in his arms and that he ran for his wife to call 911.
The mother told police late the night before, the father was at Red
Robin having dinner. She woke him about 5:20 a.m. Sept. 4 and told the
husband it was his turn to attend to their child.
When the child couldn't be consoled, the mother took him to another
room from about 7 a.m. to 8 a.m., she told police. She told
investigators she woke about 9:30 a.m. to her husband saying their son
went limp in his arms and to call 911.
Police obtained phone records for both parents -- to try and refute
or corroborate the timeline of events. Court documents don't
specifically detail the records obtained, though police requested all
voice mails, e-mails, digital images, buddy lists and other files
associated with the accounts.
Police say the case has been difficult to investigate because the
parents appear to be the only people at the residence when the boy's
injuries occurred.
Both parents' police records in King County are limited to traffic
citations. Court records show in Sept. 2007, the father was served an
eviction notice after owing more than $1,300 at the Island Square
Apartments on Mercer Island.
The infant remained at Seattle Children's until he died. The case
remains under investigation, and has not been referred to prosecutors.