Evansville Father Put 1MO Infant Facedown To Keep Pacifier In Their Mouth

[Sugar Cookie]

Unemployed 25-year-old Samuel C. Womack reportedly told detectives he placed his one-month-old infant facedown in a bassinet to keep a pacifier in the child's mouth hours before he dialed 911 on March 12 to report his child had stopped breathing.

During an initial police interview, Womack reportedly said he lived at the One Life Studio & Suites hotel, located at 100 S. Green River Road, with his fiancé and two young sons - including his one month old - and claimed he took on most of the child-care duties because his fiancé had a job and he did not.

According to Womack's arrest affidavit, he presented a shifting story to investigators during subsequent interviews about what happened on March 12.

During a later police interview at the EPD's downtown headquarters, Womack reportedly said "more details were becoming clear" to him, and he remembered waking up around the time his fiancé left the hotel because his infant was "fussy" and needed a diaper change, the affidavit states.

"Womack said he started to change the diaper but stopped because he was falling asleep," Helm wrote. "Womack said because he was so tired, he put the victim back in the bassinet without changing him. Womack said when he put him back, he placed the victim on his stomach even though he knew he shouldn't because it could endanger his health."

According to the EPD, an autopsy would later show that Womack's son had died while lying facedown, evidenced by the fact that blood had failed to settle to their face and stomach. The child's lip had also incurred an injury, according to investigators.

Writing in the affidavit, Helm said he presented the autopsy findings to Womack during another police interview on Friday and asked if a pacifier could have caused the injury to the infant's lip.

"I asked Womack if he gave the pacifier to the victim when he put him back in the bassinet face down," Helm wrote. "Womack said he did, because the victim was crying... I asked Womack if he removed his hand from under the victim, leaving the pacifier in the victim's mouth and the victim's face flat against the bassinet mattress. He said he did."

According to the affidavit, Womack said he knew it was dangerous to leave an infant lying facedown on a mattress. Helm writes in the affidavit Womack went so far as to admit that doing so had caused the death of his infant son: "Finally, I asked Womack if he agreed his actions caused the death of the victim, and he stated he did agree," Helm wrote.

MSN