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Bloomington man charged in murder of infant

Baby died at hospital
Posted at 11:56 AM, Jul 31, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-31 18:10:06-04

Correction: Due to incorrect information released by the Bloomington Police Department, a previous version of this story identified Dakota King as the baby's father. King is the boyfriend of the infant's mother. RTV6 regrets the error.

BLOOMINGTON —A 19-year-old Bloomington man faces murder charges in the death of his girlfriend's two-month-old child.

Dakota King was arrested Tuesday evening after the infant arrived at IU Health Bloomington Hospital and died a short time later.

According to Bloomington Police Captain Ryan Pedigo, an examination of the baby showed visible facial injuries.

Police interviewed the child's mother's boyfriend, 19-year-old Dakota King, along with other family members, and learned that King had allegedly yelled at and squeezed the baby because it was crying. Police also learned that King had placed the infant face-down in a bassinet and "used his hand to shove the infant's face into bedding in an attempt to get the child to stop crying."

After obtaining a search warrant, police went to the family's apartment in the 1500 block of West Kirkwood Avenue and found what appeared to be blood stains in the bassinet.

Police say King admitted to investigators that he became angry when the baby spit up milk on his clothing and that he had placed the infant in the bassinet with his hand on the back of the child's head to hold the baby down. Police say King admitted to pushing the infant's head down into a pillow of the bassinet until the child stop crying. King then left the infant in the bassinet until the child's mother came home from work and discovered the baby was not breathing.

King was arrested and taken to the Monroe County jail.

An autopsy is being performed in Terre Haute.