Richland Police have arrested Jose L. Rosas-Olivo, 28, after he allegedly admitted to abusing his infant son for weeks leading up to his death.
Richland Police were called to Kadlec Medical Center on Friday September 24th, after the 5-week-old child was brought in dead.
Initially Rosas-Olivo told police that his son fell asleep on his lap. He says he began to fall asleep too, while watching videos on his phone. He told police his phone slipped and struck his son on the side of the temple.
Documents obtained by Action News say Rosas-Olivo told investigators his son fell back asleep. He says he placed his son in the crib and fell asleep next to him.
He told police when he woke up at about 5 a.m. on September 24th, his son was not breathing and reported his son being cold to the touch.
Rosas-Olivo told police his son had vomit around his nose, mouth and chest. Adding he tried to perform CPR followed by mouth-to-mouth. When he pressed on his son's chest, he says additional vomit came from his mouth which appeared to be mixed with blood.
An autopsy revealed a linear fracture on the right side of the skull, bleeding under the entire scalp, diffuse subdural hematoma, multiple anterior and posterior rib fractures (to include several that were broken in two places), and a lacerated liver.
Following the autopsy results, police interviewed Rosas-Olivo. He allegedly told investigators that after three weeks of trying to be a good father, he found that he could no longer control himself and that he started to hurt his son.
According to documents, when police asked Rosas-Olivo to explain why he hurt his child, he said he "no longer cared."
Rosas-Olivo allegedly told police he pulled his son's hair in order to cause pain and would frequently pull on his ears, in an effort to upset him.
Documents states that Rosas-Olivo said he spanked his infant son during every diaper change and would often hit above the small of his back with a flat hand, according to documents.
Rosas-Olivo allegedly said he could no longer console his son and stop him from crying, so he found himself throwing his infant son into his crib from a height above his stomach and chest.
He allegedly told police he would toss his child into the crib in a manner to "ensure that [the child's] head hit the back railing of the crib." Rosas-Olivo said he did this a minimum of twice a day for the last two weeks of his life.
Documents say that Rosas-Olivo told police he would often leave his child swaddled in a blanket with his arms secured to his side and toss him into his crib from an elevated height.
Rosas-Olivo allegedly admitted he would toss his son in a manner that caused him to rotate "like a football" before landing inside the crib. He added the crib was cluttered with items such as toys, that would be painful for his son to land on.
Court documents state he admitted to police that his son was helpless during these assaults and that his son was dependent on him for everything. He told Police he did this often enough he couldn't recall how many times it happened.
Rosas-Olivo also expanded on what he told police in a pervious interview. Allegedly saying he would squeeze his son hard enough to cause pain and cause the child to gasp for air.
Documents say Rosas-Olivo told police that on at least one occurrence he squeezed his son so hard he stopped breathing. He said he had to pat his child's back to get him to start breathing again.
Rosas-Olivo allegedly said he began squeezing his son when he was three weeks old and did so every day.
Documents say Rosas-Olivo told police he squeezed his son because he was frustrated and said that he often squeezed his son so hard that his shoulders would hurt from the force he place onto his son.
According to police, Rosas-Olivo said the night before his son died he fed him a bottle and he started to fall asleep on his lap.
Rosas-Olivo allegedly told police he started to fall asleep too, and that his phone struck his son in the head.
He says this startled him and said he knew his son was going to start crying. To try and prevent this, Rosas-Olivo says he grabbed his son and began to squeeze him so hard his shoulders hurt afterward.
Rosas-Olivo says he squeezed his son until he felt him stop moving for about two-to-three seconds and says his son gasped for air afterward.
He says he placed his son in the crib and that he then went to bed.
In the morning, Rosas-Olivo says he woke up worried that he hurt his son and discovered his son was dead.
Rosas-Olivo says the child's mother was not aware of what he was doing and said he never harmed the child when the mother was around.
She told police she was asleep most of the evening and did not witness Rosas-Oliva with the child from about 11 p.m. September 23rd until about 5 a.m. September 24th.
According to documents she stated, "she believed she and [Rosas-Olivo] were good parents who loved their children."
She also stated she never witnessed Rosas-Olivo harm their son and said she didn't know what caused their son's death.
While being interviewed by police, Rosas-Olivo said that being a father was stressful and that he suffered from depression. He said he was unable to express frustration and said he didn't know what to do after three weeks of trying to be a good father.
Rosas-Olivo is being held at the Benton County Jail for suspicion of Assault of a Child in the First Degree. The judge noted that he could even find probable cause to hold Rosas-Olivo for manslaughter or murder.
His bail has been set at $500,000. Rosas-Olivo is due back in court on October 14.
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