A Montville NJ man face murder charges for allegedly beating, and killing, the young son of his girlfriend in what is being called a domestic violence incident.
The domestic violence homicide occurred in April 2015. According to authorities, the 28-year-old suspect murdered the three-year-old victim at a motel room that the suspect shared with his girlfriend. The violent beating death reportedly occurred inside a room at the Knights Inn, which is located in the Pine Brook section of Montville, New Jersey.
Shortly after the child became nonresponsive and appeared to be choking, the suspect dialed 911 and contacted the Montville Police Department. By the time Montville police officers arrived at the motel, the victim was seriously injured and in need of immediate medical attention. Additionally, the suspect’s girlfriend was said to be covered with bruises on her face and all across her body.
Emergency medical responders rushed the child to St. Joseph’s Regional Medical Center in Paterson, NJ. He remained in the hospital for three days, but was ultimately taken off life support. A medical examiner later determined that the cause of the child’s death was blunt force trauma to the head.
The suspect was initially charged with aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. However, the charges were upgraded to first degree murder shortly after the child died due to his injuries.
The suspect has been in the Morris County Jail, in Morristown NJ, for the past nine months while the charges have remained pending. He has been held at the jail in lieu of a massive $1 million bail amount.
The suspect has tried on three occasions to get his bail reduced to a more manageable amount of $250,000, but Morris County prosecutors have fought his bail reduction requests every step of the way. A Morris County Superior Court judge recently rejected yet another bail reduction request by the suspect, which means that he will likely remain incarcerated until he stands trial for the domestic violence homicide.
To learn more about this case, check out the DailyRecord.com article, “Bail Kept at $1M on Accused Child Killer in Montville.”
