The Bloomington man accused of killing his girfriend’s two-month-old infant will appear in court this afternoon.
Police say Dakota King admitted to smothering the baby in its bassinet because the baby spit up on his clothes.
Police arrested 19-year-old King on Tuesday at an apartment in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood.
Police say they were called to the hospital Tuesday at 5:31 p.m. after the baby arrived at the hospital in poor health. Police say the baby was dead when they arrived. According to a statement from police, the staff in the emergency department said there were several inconsistencies in family members' stories.
“Officers then began to interview members of the family,” BPD Captain Ryan Pedigo says. “As they learned more about the infant and the death, they then applied for and were granted a search warrant for the residence where the child had been prior to coming to the hospital.”
The family told investigators that King had yelled and squeezed the baby and had previously used his hand to try to force the baby's face into its bedding to make the child stop crying.
When police interviewed King he told police he had gotten angry when the baby spit up on his clothes. Police say King told them he placed the baby in its bassinet with his hand on the infant's head and forced it into the pillow of the bassinet until the baby stopped crying.
King is being held at the Monroe County Jail.
