A New Mexico man is in jail after his 5-month-old baby boy was discovered dead at home over the weekend, according to law enforcement in the Land of Enchantment.
Jared White, 35, is charged with one count each of child abuse resulting in death and child abandonment resulting in death, according to Curry County jail records.
The underlying incident allegedly began with a late-night crying session.
According to Amarillo-based ABC affiliate KVII, police were called to a house on Maple Street in Clovis, a medium-sized city just across the border from Texas, on Sunday afternoon shortly after 2 p.m. in response to an infant who was not breathing.
There, life-saving procedures were attempted, and the child was transported to Plains Regional Medical Center. He was pronounced dead at 2:42 p.m. by the Clovis Police Department.
In comments to the TV station, a police spokesperson initially stated that certain information “raised concerns regarding the nature and timing of the infant’s injuries.”
According to Albuquerque-based ABC affiliate KOAT, law enforcement later clarified the vague response, alleging White provided a narrative that was inconsistent with other evidence.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Albuquerque’s NBC affiliate KOB, the baby was lying on the couch when police arrived.
The father, for his part, claimed to have discovered his son in a tipped-over bouncer after being out at a friend’s house for about an hour. White allegedly told investigators during an interview that the child’s face was already purple when the grim discovery was made.
According to police, this does not match the child’s death time.
“The main thing about that is the condition that the body was in when we started our investigation didn’t match what the statements were about him being dead for about an hour or so,” police told KOB on Tuesday.
According to police, the evidence suggested a much earlier death.
“[The child] was in full rigor mortis at the time he was transported to the hospital,” a copy of the complaint obtained by Eastern New Mexico News states.
“It was also discovered that once transported to the hospital, the rigor mortis began to subside. The release process would take 6-8 hours.
This would imply that [the child’s] death must have occurred much earlier than the story being told.”
Additionally, police stated that the child had marks indicating that he had been strangled, as well as verbal evidence to that effect.
According to police, a witness identified as the defendant’s friend initially believed White’s account of the child being discovered in the tipped-over bouncer just before 911 was called.
“[The friend] said she lifted the blanket and observed Joseph with his face in the mattress and his body to be purple,” according to what was claimed. “[The friend] stated that at this point, she yelled for Jared to come into the bedroom, saying, ‘I think your baby is dead.'”
Later, that friend allegedly changed her story to say she saw White strangling his son several hours before making the emergency call, but she was hesitant to intervene at first because “she was afraid Jared would hurt her” and left the room, according to the lawsuit.
In a subsequent interview, the father’s friend allegedly told authorities about the night before, when the child began to cry around 1 a.m.
“[The friend] observed Jared to have wrapped [the child] into a blanket … she then saw Jared lift [the child] into the air by his neck while still being wrapped in the blanket,” reads the complaint.[The friend] described Jared as having both hands around [the child’s] neck, strangling him.”
A second child was discovered alive at the Maple Street home and removed due to the conditions inside, according to police.
Detectives reported finding drug paraphernalia throughout the house, as well as dog feces. According to the complaint, one bedroom had a dirty mattress and a baby bottle containing a cockroach.
Another bedroom housed the second child, who was said to have diaper rash and slept on a urine-soaked mattress. In conclusion, law enforcement described the residence as “completely unsanitary and a possible health risk.”
Police described the defendant as “distressed and out of touch with reality,” adding that he “would appear to be fine and have conversations on the phone, then began to cry” and make outbursts.
White is currently detained in the Curry County Detention Center without bond.
