BLAKE MITCHELL - 4 yo (2010) - Hillsborough NC

Durham County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy in Hillsborough.Police arrived at 17 Thistle Trace at the Hardscrabble Plantation in Hillsborough, near the Durham County border, around 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.They found the 4-year-old boy unresponsive and the father injured. He was treated and is currently in stable condition.A husband, wife, three children and the grandfather of the children were inside the home at the time. The other two children are 13 and 10-years-old.Deputies are now questioning witnesses.No other information is available at this time.

Durham County Sheriff's deputies are investigating the death of a 4-year-old boy. The incident happened early Wednesday at a home on Thistle Trace, which is north of Guess Road off of St. Mary's Road. Deputies say they received a call from inside the home around 12:30 a.m. When they arrived at the scene, they discovered a 4-year-old dead and his father injured. Authorities have not said what kind of injuries the child and the father suffered. The father is identified as 45-year-old Joseph Mitchell. Four other family members were inside the home at the time, including two other children, the 4-year-old's mother and the woman's father-in-law. Investigators are on the scene collecting evidence and interviewing family members. Deputies say there is no sign of forced injury into the house. Mitchell is at the hospital undergoing surgery.

Joseph Mitchell and his son, Blake

Blake Mitchell

The Mitchell family


This is his son that he murdered.

A father, accused of suffocating his 4-year-old son in Durham County last month, is expected to face a judge Monday.

Joseph Mitchell has been charged with first degree murder in the death of his son Blake Mitchell. Mitchell has also been charged with attempted murder of his two other children, ages 13 and 10.Emergency crews responded to a call for a child in distress at 17 Thistle Trace at the Hardscrabble Plantation in Hillsborough, near the Durham County border, around 12:30 a.m. Sept. 22.Crews found the boy inside and transported him to the hospital where he was pronounced dead. Mitchell was found injured upstairs in the home. He was also transported to the hospital for life-threatening injuries. It was later determined that Mitchell injured himself.

Autopsy says boy choked to death
Published Fri, Jun 17, 2011 05:36 AM

DURHAM -- Medical examiners who performed an autopsy on a 4-year-old boy reported a "distinctive injury pattern" around the child's neck that resembled a chain link, according to a medical report made public Thursday.

The child, Blake Anthony Mitchell of Durham, died of asphyxia, according to the autopsy report from the state medical examiner's office in Chapel Hill. Durham County Sheriff's deputies reported bleeding around Blake's eyes, along with bruising across the boy's throat. The child's injuries were consistent with death by suffocation or strangulation.

Blake's father, Joseph Anthony Mitchell, is charged with first-degree murder in the child's death.

Investigators think Mitchell smothered Blake late September of last year and attempted to do the same with his other two children, then 10 and 13, in the home where they resided at Thistle Trace.

While paramedics tried to save Blake, Durham County deputies searched the home and came across a locked bedroom. Deputies forced the door open and found Mitchell injured from an apparent suicide attempt. He was rushed into surgery at Duke Hospital.



Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/06/17/1279777/autopsy-says-boy-choked-to-death.html#ixzz1UDm81jkS

2010059369 CRS
Arraigned Defendant Name: MITCHELL,JOSEPH,ANTHONY
County: DURHAM
Court Date: 10/03/2011
Session: AM
Court Room: 3CMS

http://www1.aoc.state.nc.us/www/calendars.Offense.do?submit=submit&case=3102010059369&court=CRS