“It is with great sadness that I report that the baby boy referenced in our initial investigation has passed away. Our hearts go out to the family and all involved in this tragic event.”
The 7-month-old had been at Cook Children’s Medical Center in Fort Worth since being flown there after sustaining injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome in a Brownwood apartment, police have said.
Evan Travis Williford, the 21-year-old boyfriend of the child’s mother, remains in the Brown County Jail, charged with injury to a child in connection with the child’s injuries.
Brownwood police detective Brian Rice wrote in a complaint that he was told the child’s injuries were classified as non-accidental trauma and occurred as the result of suspected child abuse.
Williford, who was the only other person in the apartment when the baby was injured, was watching the baby while his mother was at work, police were told.
Officers were dispatched to the Brownwood hospital for a 7-month-old male child who was unresponsive. The baby had no pulse and could not breathe on his own. Eventually medical staff was able to restore a pulse.
Williford and the baby’s mother were at the hospital, where Williford said he’s only watched the child a few times without the mother present.
Williford told Rice he was sitting in a recliner with the child while playing video games when he saw the child have a seizure and stop breathing.
Williford said he had no idea how it happened and said the baby did not fall or have any injury.
The mother and Williford went to the police department, where a Department of Public Safety polygrapher assisted with interviews. Williford told the polygrapher he had left out details about the child falling from the bed. Williford said he hadn’t wanted to mention that because it would make him look like a bad person for letting the child fall off the bed.
“Williford assured me the child fell from the bed due to the dog jumping on the bed,” Rice’s complaint states. “Williford explained that when the child fell from the bed, he landed on soft bedding that was on the floor.
“Affiant confronted Williford with the doctor’s comments of the child having to be violently shaken to sustain these types of injuries. Williford said the only thing he could think of was maybe he picked the child up from the floor too fast and maybe caused those injuries.”
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