A Kentucky man was arrested and charged with the murder of his 4-month-old son after he was seen beating the infant while driving on a highway.
The infant’s mother, Kimberly Chrystie, told police the baby’s father, Daniel Cox, asked if he could take the boy out for a visit Thursday, according to WLKY-TV.
Chrystie told police Cox was gone with their son for 2 hours.
Shortly before 7 p.m. Thursday, a family spotted a man in a gold Mercury Grand Marquis beating an infant in a car seat. Dena Stevenson told WLKY-TV the man was driving while beating the child about the chest and face.
Stevenson said she followed behind the Marquis for miles, and watched helplessly as the man beat the child.
Officers began searching for the car in Radcliff, KY, about 45 miles south of Louisville.
15 minutes later, Cox pulled up to Chrystie’s residence, handed the boy over to her and fled in the Marquis.
Chrystie said Jayceon was “black and blue and unresponsive; he had no pulse and his eye was swollen shut.”
Chrystie said she screamed when she saw the condition her son was in.
“He dropped my child off almost two hours later, beat up all black and blue,” she wrote in a protective she filed against Cox Friday. “I called 911 as soon as I seen my son.”
Police caught up to Cox in Louisville. He was taken into custody without incident and charged with assault.
Jayceon, who was transported to a hospital in Louisville, was declared brain dead and taken off life support on Saturday. Cox’s charge was upgraded to murder.
Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Robert Fraction said the cause of death was “inflicted traumatic injury to the head.”
A judge set Cox’s bond at $500,000. His next court hearing is Friday.
