Convicted sex offender 'sodomized girlfriend's 4-month-old daughter and then choked her to death when baby would not stop crying'

Jordan Prince, 24, faces first-degree murder, child abuse and forcible sodomy charges stemming from December 2012 incident



Court records show baby Ashlynn Peters died from asphyxiation but also suffered from internal bleeding caused by sodomy



'Monster:' Jordan Prince, 24, is facing first-degree murder, child abuse and forcible sodomy charges for allegedly assaulting a 4-month-old girl he was baby-sitting and then strangling her to death

A convicted sex offender suspected of murdering his girlfriend’s infant daughter in Missouri last year is now accused of sodomizing the little girl before allegedly killing her.

Jordan Lafayette Prince, 24, of St Charles, was originally charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child in connection to the December 2012 death of a 4-month-old girl.



Prince’s murder count has since been upgraded to first degree, and this week he was also indicted on additional charges of forcible sodomy and abuse of a child.



Court records cited by St Louis Post-Dispatch show that the cause of death was asphyxiation, but the child also suffered serious injuries related to sodomy, which caused internal bleeding.



Prince told police he became frustrated with the baby because she wouldn't stop crying. He's been jailed on 150,000 cash bail.



Online records show that Prince was convicted in September 2007 of lewd conduct with a minor under age 16.



First responders were called to a home in the 3600 block of Fremont Drive in St Charles shortly after 11.30am on December 3 because the baby, Ashlynn Peters, was not breathing.



The infant was rushed to a local hospital being airlifted to Cardinal Glennon Children's Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead the next day.



An autopsy conducted at the hospital December 5 revealed that the baby died from asphyxiation.



Prince told investigators that he had been looking after baby Ashlynn while his girlfriend, Jessica Howell, was sleeping.



Crime scene: The tragedy unfolded last December in this home on Fremont Drive in St Charles, MO, where Prince was looking after his girlfriend's infant daughter while the mother was taking a nap

Confession: Prince, who had been convicted on a child sex abuse charge in 2007, told police that he handled baby Ashlynn 'in a cruel manner and rougher than he should have'



The 24-year-old told investigators that he choked the baby with his hand and left her lying on her side when she would not stop crying.



When he returned an hour later to check on the infant, she was unresponsive.

Prince admitted that he handled Ashlynn 'in a cruel manner and rougher than he should have,' police said.

