A 25-year-old Tampa man was arrested Friday in connection to the death of a 1-month-old infant, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
Cortavius Thompson is facing a charge of first-degree murder while engaged in child abuse, jail records show.
Thompson’s arrest comes about a week after deputies say a local hospital called 911 to report that someone had brought in an unresponsive 1-month-old with injuries to its upper body. The baby died the next morning, Dec. 9.
The infant’s mother told detectives that she had left her baby with a relative while she went to work and that she had seen the infant during her lunch break and saw no sign of injuries at that time. But when she got home after work she noticed the injuries and brought her baby to the hospital, the Sheriff’s Office said.
Thompson told detectives he was in the restroom when he heard the infant crying from another room. According to a news release from the Sheriff’s Office, he said he noticed the injuries when he picked up the baby.
While waiting for the child’s mother to arrive, he “placed the infant in the bathtub in an attempt to wake the baby,” the release said.
A medical examiner’s office investigation concluded that an accident could not have caused the baby’s injuries, and the death was ruled a homicide, the release said.
Thompson was booked into Falkenburg Road Jail and is being held without bond, records show.
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