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Angel Rodriguez, age 35, of Bridgeport, was arrested on Monday, Jan. 4, by warrant for the death of the child on Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2019, said Patrick J. Griffin, Connecticut's Attorney for the Judicial District of New Haven.
According to the arrest warrant, in the afternoon of Sunday, Nov. 8, New Haven Police Department, New Haven Fire Department, and American Medical Response (AMR) personnel responded to a 911 report of an unresponsive toddler.
First responders treated and transported the baby to the Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital where she was placed in the pediatric intensive care unit on a ventilator, still unresponsive, and in critical condition.
Two days later, the child died in the hospital. A subsequent autopsy by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner determined the baby’s manner of death to be a homicide, with the cause of death due to blunt impact injury of the head and neck.
Investigators learned from the child’s mother that she fed the baby that morning before leaving the child in the care of Rodriguez when she went to work.
Rodriguez told investigators that the baby was moving, laughing, and behaving normally in the morning, but he telephoned 911 in the afternoon after he discovered the child on her belly, face down on a bed, blue and cold to the touch.
According to the arrest warrant affidavit, Rodriguez was the only person in the home at the time of the incident. He has denied injuring the baby while she was in his care.
"State’s Attorney Griffin is grateful to the New Haven Police Department for their continued commitment to this case including recent follow-up interviews, which culminated in the warrant application," the SA's Office said.
Rodriguez is being held on a $500,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in court on Tuesday, Jan. 19.
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