Zachary Williams (West Virginia Central Regional Jail).
A West Virginia man allegedly threw his infant son into a bed frame and floor out of frustration, causing the boy to immediately go limp and stop breathing.
The boy later died, and now his father, 27-year-old Zachary Williams, stands accused of murder and child abuse causing death. The incident occurred around 9 a.m. on May 25 at a home in Jane Lew, some 100 miles northeast of Charleston.
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According to a criminal complaint by the West Virginia State Police and obtained by Law&Crime, troopers responded to a call for an unresponsive infant. When they arrived they found paramedics performing CPR on the child and rushed him to the hospital. Medical staff pronounced the boy dead about an hour later.
The boy lived at the home with his mother, father and grandparents. Troopers first interviewed the grandparents who told them the other than a reoccurring cold, the boy was fine when they left for work about 8 a.m. The boy was then in the custody of his mother and Williams.
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According to the affidavit, the mother told detectives her son was “completely fine” when they woke up that morning. She allegedly said the boy was fussier than normal due to a cold and wouldn’t go down for a nap. She then woke up Williams for help because she felt herself becoming frustrated. The mother left the room and a short time later Williams yelled for her to come back. She ran back into the bedroom to see her son “limp” and barely breathing.
She had Williams call 911 and a dispatcher told her to put the child on his side. Once she did this, her son stopped breathing completely, the affidavit said. She performed CPR until medical personnel arrived.
Williams claimed to detectives once he took over the care of the boy from his mother, he started rocking him in hopes of calming him down. Then the boy “went rigid and then limp and became unresponsive,” Williams told investigators.
While cops could not see any serious injuries on the boy, an autopsy determined he died of a “severe skull fracture on the rear of the head,” the affidavit said. The type of fracture is caused by trauma, per cops.
Troopers interviewed Williams again, and he was giving his Miranda rights.
“In a recorded interview, Mr. Williams did confess to throwing the juvenile out of frustration, causing the juvenile to strike his head on a bed frame and the floor,” the complaint said.
“Mr. Williams also stated that it was all his fault,” the complaint added.
Cops arrested Williams and he is being held at the Central Regional Jail without bond. It’s unclear if has an attorney.
