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Police were dispatched on reports of a cardiac arrest to a home on Centre Avenue on Feb. 22 around noon to find Kendra Simmons performing CPR on her infant daughter, MacKenna Baylis, Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin R. Steele, and West Norriton Township Police Chief Michael Kelly.
An officer took over CPR until Plymouth Ambulance arrived and took the infant to Einstein Montgomery Hospital, where she was pronounced dead at 12:55 p.m., Steele and Kelly said.
An investigation found that Simmons had left the home at 9:55 a.m. to go to a scheduled doctor’s appointment, leaving the baby in the care of her father, Craig Baylis, 31, authorities said.
Baylis told investigators he fell asleep in his bed while also cradling MacKenna after feeding her a bottle earlier that morning. When he woke up around 11:30 a.m. to use the hallway bathroom, he heard a "THUMP," which he believed to be McKenna falling out of the bed, authorities said.
When he went back to the bedroom, he found MacKenna laying face down on the floor and crying, according to the criminal complaint.
Baylis then picked MacKenna up, to which she began crying even louder. He then cradled her in his arms, until McKenna eventually "went to sleep," the criminal complaint reads.
Simmons told investigators that Baylis called her at 11:55 a.m. saying MacKenna had fallen, and her nose was bleeding, but "she was fine," the complaint shows.
When Simmons immediately returned home and saw Baylis rocking MacKenna, she knew something was wrong, as McKenna looked gray and had a bruise on her ear, according to the complaint.
Simmons then called 911 after touching McKenna, and believing she felt "lifeless," the complaint reads.
Forensic Pathologist Dr. Ian Hood, with the Montgomery County Coroner’s Office, performed an autopsy on Mckenna Baylis on Feb. 23 and ruled the cause and manner of death as undetermined pending further testing. Dr. Hood listed it as pending further studies, which included a study of the brain, authorities said.
Dr. Lyndsey Emery, a Forensic Neuropathologist, examined Mackenna’s brain on March 15 and noted numerous acute hemorrhages, or ruptured blood vessels, in multiple areas of the brain and eyes, Steele and Kelly said.
Dr. Hood said that Mackenna Baylis’ cause of death was inflicted head trauma, and the manner of death was homicide, authorities said.
He noted that the injuries stemmed from “vigorous movement of the head while relatively fixed in relation to the neck.”
“A very vulnerable child--only a month and a half old—was left in the care of someone who should have protected her. Instead, he shook the life out of baby Mackenna.” Steele said.
“We will seek justice for Mackenna and for a family mourning the death of baby Mackenna.”
Baylis was arraigned on May 26 before Magisterial District Judge Marc A. Alfaranno, with bail denied.
Baylis was remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility where he will await a preliminary hearing scheduled for 11 a.m. on June 7 in front of Judge Alfaranno.
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