Man 'smashed his newborn daughter's skull with a cinder block because he couldn't afford another baby'



Mother also faces murder charges as 'she knew her boyfriend planned to kill baby'

She already had five children under the age of nine

Little girl died just hours after she was born

A father allegedly killed his baby daughter with a cinder block just hours after she was born - because he and the little girl's mother couldn't afford to have another child.



Christopher Fitzpatrick, 20, allegedly told his girlfriend, Jennifer Barrise, 'I just want to get rid of it' as she started having contractions while they were out shopping near their home in Lake Ariel, Pennsylvania.

Both have now been charged with criminal homicide after police found their daughter's tiny body buried in woodland near Fitzpatrick's workplace.

Arrested: Christopher Fitzpatrick, 20, is accused of beating his newborn daughter to death with a cinder block in woodland near where he worked in Pennsylvania

Barrise, 28, already has five little boys, all aged under nine. The youngest, Christopher - her first child with Fitzpatrick - was born just a year ago in Franklin, New Jersey, where the couple used to live.

Now the couple are both being held at Wayne County Jail on murder charges. Police claim Barrise knew Fitzpatrick planned to kill their baby.

According to an arrest affidavit both have admitted the charges.



The alleged killing happened on the Saturday of Memorial Day weekend, just hours after Barrise went into labour when the couple were at a grocery store with Fitzpatrick's 11-year-old sister.

Charged: Jennifer Barrise sobs as she is led away to be charged with murder. Police say she knew her boyfriend planned to kill their baby

According to police, as her contractions began the 20-year-old yelled at his girlfriend: 'Have this (expletive) baby. I just want to get rid of it. I gotta do what I gotta do.'

She said: 'What do you want to do, kill it?', but Fitzpatrick didn't reply. Their car wouldn't start, but as they waited for help he allegedly said: 'hurry up and have this baby, I want to get rid of it.'

Barrise again asked if he was going to kill the baby, but he stayed silent, police say.



When Barrise had the baby, the little girl landed on the floor - and neither of her parents touched her as she lay crying, the affidavit claims.



According to police, Fitzpatrick drove his girlfriend, daughter and sister back to their home, but later picked up the baby and drove to M n D Lawn Care, where he worked.

Violent death: A handmade wooden cross marks the spot where the newborn baby was found buried beneath a cinder block

Grief: A sign outside M n D, where the little girl was found, reads 'we are devastated beyond words'. A memorial service will be held there on June 25

There he allegedly picked up a cinder block and dropped it twice on his daughter's head, smashing her skull.

Then he buried her tiny body beneath the concrete block and drove home.

The birth only came to light the next day, when Fitzpatrick's sister told her family Barrise had had the baby in her brother's car.

Her parents immediately rang Fitzpatrick, and he initially told them he had taken his daughter to a hospital, but he couldn't remember the name.

His family called every hospital within a two-hour drive, but couldn't track the baby down - so they confronted Fitzpatrick.

He allegedly told his uncle he had taken the baby into the woods and buried her there.

Shock: Ruth DiPalma, who owns the lawn company where Fitzpatrick works, plans to hold a memorial service for the little girl

His mother later testified Fitzpatrick had once told her he and Barrise didn't have enough money to look after another baby.

Soon afterwards state troopers went to the lawn company to search the grounds. When Fitzpatrick arrived he allegedly showed officers where he had buried the little girl, and confessed to the murder.



Shocked residents are to hold a memorial service for the little girl at the lawn company next weekend. Its owner, Ruth DiPalma, has already built a cross in her memory.

She told the Times-Tribune: 'This was not the person we hired. It's a different person. I can't tell you how horrified and completely devastated we are. We had absolutely no idea.'



Barrise's five sons, aged one, two, four, five and nine, are being looked after by relatives.

The family were featured in their local New Jersey newspaper last year after Barrise gave birth to her youngest son on the kitchen floor when she went into labour suddenly.