According to court records, officers responded Sept. 1 to City Hospital for a sexual assault complaint. The victim's mother told police that medics had taken her daughter to the hospital after a large quantity of blood was found in her diaper. Once she arrived at the hospital, doctors determined the victim would have to undergo surgery to repair massive tissue damage.
The victim's mother told police that at about 3 p.m. that afternoon, she left both of her children in the company of her husband, the accused, and left to pick up her niece from school. After about 20 minutes, she said she returned home and found her husband still watching their son and the victim.
She then left her children in the care of the defendant's sister while they went shopping. The mother said she and her husband went to several stores before returning home. Once they returned, the accused left again to go shopping for a computer part with a neighbor.
At that time, when the victim's mother attempted to change the child's diaper, she found a large amount of blood. At that point, 911 was called and the child was taken to the hospital for treatment. The victim's mother said she then called her husband on her cell phone to tell him what happened. She said the accused didn't come to the hospital for a long time, records show.
Officers went to the accused's apartment to look for possible evidence and they took a brief statement from the man. The following day, Detective Lt. G.B. Swartwood and Detective Cpl. S.F. Doyle were contacted by neighbors, who said they found a bloody sheet in the dumpster behind the accused's apartment.
In a statement to police, the accused said two men stopped by the apartment while his wife was gone and he left the children in their care while he went to 7-Eleven on Winchester Avenue.
He said he returned from the store and the men left before his wife came home.
Officers met with both of the men that day, and they denied being at the apartment. One of the men wasn't aware of the accused's new address and the other was at an adult care facility during the time in question, records show.
Patrolman Chris Williamson obtained video surveillance footage from the 7-Eleven that the accused claimed to have gone to, and there was no evidence that the man went to the store when he claimed he did.
This past Monday, Doyle met the accused man's neighbor, who said he had witnessed the victim's mother leaving the apartment the day of the incident. He said that he didn't see the two men at the apartment. The neighbor also said he was with the accused when he received the phone call from his wife informing him of the incident.
The neighbor said the man didn't appear concerned and continued to shop for an extended period of time instead of leaving to go to the hospital, records show.