A 10-month-old infant died Friday after being thrown down the stairs by his mother's boyfriend, according to the police in Lackawanna County, Pa.
Eddie Widdick, 23, was arrested and charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. He allegedly threw girlfriend Ashley Nelson's son Silas, down a flight of stairs Wednesday, and then further hurt the infant by forcibly placing him in a crib and hitting him on his head.
Silas succumbed to deep brain injuries, hemorrhages in both eyes, bruises on the head and torso and rib fracture. First Assistant District Attorney Gene Talerico said Saturday that further charges, possibly homicide, will be filed against Widdick following the autopsy autopsy report, according to The Times-Tribune. . No charges were filed against the mother.
Widdick called Nelson to inform her that Silas was not "breathing right" and that he "didn't do it," police said. After about seven minutes, he rang up 911 to report that the baby fell out of the crib and was not breathing.
Baby Silas was rushed to the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville. Widdick later confessed to the police that he dropped the infant down the stairs before putting him back in his crib. Widdick is being held in Lackawanna County Prison on $150,000 bond. It is not clear what prompted Widdick to be so brutal to the baby.
Earlier, Silas's twin sister was removed along with 6 other children below the age of 13 from the house where Widdick and Nelson stayed by Lackawanna County Children and Youth Services. Authorities found signs of physical abuse on 5 children.
Kevin Cavanaugh, Nelson's landlord and a code enforcement officer from Olyphant checked the home he rented her. He said he did not notice any signs of physical abuse but saw that the children were badly kept as they often appeared dirty. Even the house was in an unhealthy condition, reports the Daily Mail. Following this Cavanaugh informed the Lackawanna County Children and Youth Services.
"As time went on over the last three or four weeks I became more concerned with the children's welfare because I kept seeing dirty, dirty diapers, children crying upset all the time. When I went in there those kids ran right to me, and they didn't even know me," said Cavanaugh to WNEP.
