Police: Man confessed to baby's brutal killing

PORTLAND -- Dalton R. Davis told authorities that he was angry with his girlfriend late Monday night when he carried her 5-week daughter outside their rural Jay County home.

Upset over an earlier argument with the baby's mother, Davis said, he "took (the infant) by the legs and forcefully struck her body on the concrete two or three times, with her back and head striking the ground," Capt. Patrick Wells of the Jay County Sheriff's Office wrote in a report.

An autopsy would later show that the baby likely died instantly from a severe skull fracture.

Davis, 21, of the 8800 block of North Jay County Road 550-W, confessed to the slaying on Wednesday afternoon. On Thursday, Jay County Prosecutor Wes Schemenaur formally charged the rural Bryant man with murder.

Davis -- who is not the father of the young victim -- was being held without bond in the Jay County jail.

Jay County 911 dispatchers received a call that sent authorities to Davis's home about 11:50 p.m. Monday, after the baby's mother apparently realized the child was not breathing.

The baby was taken by ambulance to the Bluffton Regional Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.

According to Wells' report, while examining the victim's remains in Bluffton, authorities noted she had "a large amount of bruising" on her chest, back and head, along with an apparent skull fracture. The autopsy was conducted at St. Joseph Hospital in Fort Wayne.

The baby's mother said she fell asleep late Monday in her home's living room, with her infant sleeping next to her in a glider. When she awoke, she said she found the infant, unresponsive and apparently not breathing, in a bassinet in a bedroom, where she also found Davis on a bed.

When interviewed early Tuesday, Davis maintained the baby was "fine and did not appear ill" when he moved her, about 30 minutes before she was discovered not breathing, from the glider to the bassinet.

Investigators met with Davis again on Wednesday afternoon. After he was told about the infant's injuries, Davis at first said he had accidentally dropped the child on her head while he was outside smoking a cigarette Monday night.

Told that account was "not consistent" with the severity of the child's injuries, Davis allegedly admitted to slamming the infant onto the concrete, at one point using a doll to show how he had inflicted the fatal injuries.

His earlier argument with the infant's mother was over his consumption of alcohol, investigators said.

The Jay County man also said he believed the baby was dead when he placed her in the bassinet.

In a release, Schemenaur said the arrest came after an investigation by the sheriff's office, Indiana State Police, the prosecutor's office and the Department of Child Services.

An initial hearing in the murder case is expected to be held Friday in Jay Circuit Court.

Court records reflect no prior charges against Davis.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.