TWO parents have been arrested in the death of their infant, who was found with bruises to his head in a home littered with dog feces, cops say.
Police claim the father of the child admitted to tossing the baby in the air and dropping him on the floor without immediately getting medical attention, an affidavit shows.
Police were called to a Texas apartment on Tuesday after reports of an infant who was unresponsive and not breathing.
They found a seven-month-old dead while the interior of the apartment was disheveled with what appeared to be dog feces on the floor and other items throughout the interior, according to police.
The child had heavy bruising and swelling to the left side of his face and head, and smaller bruises on his cranium, according to an affidavit shared by the Odessa Police Department.
Kameron Gammage, 23, and Layla Pierson, 18, were initially charged with injury to a child, police records show.
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The charge against Gammage was upgraded to capital murder, police said in a Thursday update.
Pierson told police that she found the baby not breathing and woke up Gammage, who then called 911.
She said he seemed “uncaring,” but then apologized to her, the affidavit said.
When asked about the bruises on the child, Gammage claimed that it was from the baby hitting his head on the crib.
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Police say Gammage “remained unemotional and seemed to lack care about the incident,” according to the police records.
When the couple was taken to the police station, Gammage allegedly admitted to having anger issues and told investigators he was dealing with a lot of stress, including the infant’s cries.
He allegedly said in an attempt to play with the infant, he began tossing him in the air and accidentally dropped him after the fourth toss.
The baby landed on the floor “hard,” the affidavit alleges Gammage said.
He said he didn’t want to tell Pierson because he feared “getting in trouble,” according to police.
Pierson told detectives that when she asked Gammage about the bruising, he told her the baby hit his head on the crib.
The child was “acting fussy” the next few days, she said, but the couple reportedly did not seek medical attention for him.
“Due to Kameron Gammage causing serious bodily to an infant and intentionally neglecting to seek medical attention for the infant for three days, to which the infant was found deceased three days later, Kameron Gammage was placed under arrest,” the police statement said.
The statement went on to say that the charge against Pierson stemmed from her knowing about the injuries to her infant and neglecting to seek medical attention.
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The couple also reportedly admitted to trying to clean their apartment filled with dog feces before officers arrived.
The injury to a child charge is punishable by up to two years in prison, and capital murder is punishable by up to life.
