Rogers Man Charged In 5-Month-Old Baby's Death

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – A 27-year-old Rogers man is accused of murder in the August 2016 death of a 5-month-old girl, according to charges filed in Hennepin County Court.

Darnell Jerome Davis was charged with second-degree murder in the girl's death.

According to the charges, police and paramedics were called to a home in Rogers at about 9:48 a.m. on Aug. 21, 2016, on a report of an infant not breathing. The girl's mother called police after Davis, her boyfriend, called her at work and told her the baby was having a seizure.

Davis told first responders the baby wasn't breathing normally after he gave her a bottle.

The baby was taken to Minneapolis Children's Hospital, where emergency surgery was performed. A pediatrician specializing in child abuse reported two days later that the baby appeared to suffer abusive head trauma. The child died on Aug. 25.

The complaint states Davis told a medical provider he propped a bottle up for the girl to eat in her bassinet, and left the room. He returned when he heard a choking noise. He then picked the girl up, ran around the apartment in a panic and hit her head on a door frame. He told investigators a similar story.

The Hennepin County Medical Examiner ruled the girl's cause of death as undetermined.

The complaint states Davis was confronted with evidence that his daughter was shaken. He said he may have inadvertently shaken her while running.

Davis later told investigators that after the baby's mother left for work that day, the child cried for an extended period of time. He became frustrated, picked the girl up by her torso and shook her three or four times. He noticed after that, she was quiet and noticed she wasn't breathing.

Authorities say Davis married a different woman six months after his daughter's death, and now has a 7-month-old girl from this relationship.

Davis faces 40 years in prison.