KNIGHTSTOWN, Ind. — A father of an infant has been charged in Henry County with neglect after his infant did not survive after she fell from her high chair during an incident in mid-May.
According to court documents filed on Monday in Henry County, Cullen Wilson has been charged with:
- Three counts of neglect of a dependent resulting in death, each a Level 1 felony
- One count of battery resulting in death to a person less than 14 years old, a Level 2 felony
- One count of battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person less than 14 years old, a Level 3 felony
- One count of battery resulting in serious bodily injury to a person less than 14 years old, a Level 3 felony
On the evening of May 15, detectives from the Henry County Sheriff’s Department were made aware of an incident in Knightstown that reportedly occurred on May 14. The documents said that an infant was in a high chair that was attached to a bar stool. The father of the child, later identified as Wilson, reportedly left to close the garage door.
When Wilson came back, he saw that the family dog was eating the infant’s food from the ground. Wilson then yelled at the dog, which caused the dog to spin and knock the bar stool over. The documents said this caused the infant to fall backward to the ground.
In an interview with police, Wilson reportedly said that the infant was bleeding from biting her tongue during the fall. He then took the infant upstairs to a rocking chair in her room, gave her her bottle and the infant began to calm down.
Wilson told police he “used his best judgment and thought that she was okay.” Wilson rocked the infant for about 10 or 12 minutes before he laid her down to go to bed. Wilson said she was breathing fine and “nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
In an interview with a family member, the family member said that she checked on the infant later on the evening of May 14 because she noticed the bottle that Wilson used to feed the infant was “very full.”
When the family member went into the infant’s room, she said she saw the infant breathing and at first, “nothing seemed weird.” When the family member reached to touch the infant, the family member “immediately noticed that the (infant) didn’t move… (and was) very limp and cold.”
The family member, who is a nurse, reportedly began life-saving efforts on the infant when Wilson called 911. The infant was later transported to a local hospital where she later died.
In an interview with a doctor at the hospital, the doctor said that the infant had multiple instances of brain bruising, as well as a fracture of the right parietal bone, an older left humeral fracture and a possible seventh rib fracture.
The doctor told police that the rib fracture “could not have happened from a fall that was described” and that the humeral fracture is from “someone yanking on the arm with force.”
“(The doctor) advised that the injuries he sees (were) not consistent with the story of how the (infant) fell,” the documents said. “…On May 16, the (infant) passed away due to the injuries she sustained. An autopsy was conducted and the findings were that the cause of death was due to craniocerebral trauma, and that the manner of death was homicide.”
According to court documents, an attorney review hearing in Wilson’s case is scheduled for Oct. 31. Officials also scheduled Wilson’s pretrial conference for Dec. 5 and his jury trial for Feb. 10, 2025.
