An Ohio man reportedly admitted to police that he slammed a 15-month-old baby into the floor because she wouldn’t stop crying, causing severe injuries that eventually killed the little girl.
According to WKEF, the toddler, Vivian Gardner, died at Dayton Children’s Hospital on December 19, but her injuries were incurred two weeks earlier when Michael Mayor’s wife, who provides babysitting services in the area, left her in Mayor’s care on December 5 while she took other children to school.
When she returned home, she found the little girl sleeping on the floor but became concerned when she had not awakened by 3 p.m. and called 911, telling dispatchers she was “pale, had bruises on her head, and she was unsure where they came from,” a police report said, according to WHIO.
The child was ultimately flown to Dayton Children’s Hospital for treatment, where a doctor there said she had a fracture in the rear of her skull, a subdural hematoma, and other “complex” injuries that were caused by a “massive impact.”
After discussing the case with prosecutors, police took Mayor into custody.
In an interview, Mayor told detectives that the little girl wouldn’t stop crying when he was trying to put her down for a nap.
“He stated he ‘shook’ her and when she cried louder, he began to ‘slam’ her on the floor of the bedroom,” the police report said. “He stated this was not done on the blankets and he did this several times until she stopped crying.”
At that point, the report says, Mayor said he thought she had fallen alseep, so he walked away.
He was charged at that time with felonious assault and three counts of endangering children. After the baby’s death, court documents were filed saying that the child “passed away as a result of the injuries inflicted upon her by” Mayor, but he has not yet been charged with her death.
He is being held on a $1 million bond and has a hearing scheduled for January 2.
