A Vancouver man stands accused of killing his infant son by throwing him several feet onto a changing table because the child was being fussy.
David M. Redmond, 24, appeared in Clark County Superior Court on Monday on suspicion of first-degree murder.
Judge David Gregerson held him in lieu of $750,000 bail and appointed Vancouver attorney Gregg Schile to defend him. Redmond is scheduled to be arraigned on the charge Oct. 23.
Redmond said he had just returned to the family’s Maplewood neighborhood home from work on Oct. 15 when he threw 1-month-old Everett because the infant was fussy, according to a court affidavit submitted by Vancouver police Detective Jason Hafer.
“David said he was frustrated with this, so he dropped Everett onto his changing table, causing Everett to bump his head on the wooden rail,” Hafer wrote. “Everett paused for a second with his mouth open, then started crying a high-pitched noise.”
Redmond’s wife, Ashley Redmond, may have been at the gym at the time, according to court documents.
Redmond later confessed that he had actually lifted the infant over his head and threw him from a bed to the changing table, a distance of 7 to 9 feet, said Deputy Prosecutor Patrick Robinson. Everett Redmond weighed about 6 pounds, Robinson said.
David Redmond said he threw the baby “pretty hard” and was “pretty annoyed,” Robinson said. He said he felt guilty about it afterward, Robinson said.
When the infant became unresponsive later that night, Redmond woke up his wife and told her that Everett wasn’t breathing well, Hafer wrote.
Ashley Redmond started CPR on the baby, while David Redmond called 911, he wrote.
Everett Redmond was taken to PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center, then transferred to Randall Children’s Hospital at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland. He was kept alive with machines for a period of time before he died, Robinson said.
The family’s pastor said Ashley Redmond was devastated by her only child’s death and her husband’s arrest.
“She is just totally blindsided by this, as any wife would be,” said Glen Johnson, Ashley Redmond’s pastor at Vancouver’s Faith Center Church. “She can’t even believe this has happened.”
Redmond and his wife were married in May 2013, according to The Columbian’s archives. They were married at Faith Center Church, where Ashley Redmond is employed doing digital production and graphics, Johnson said.
“We are, of course, devastated because she worked on our staff,” he said. “It’s just unbelievable.”
Johnson said the church is paying for Everett’s funeral expenses and other expenses Ashley Redmond may have during this difficult time.
“We are concerned with getting Ashley healed,” he said. “We are trying to love on Ashley and get her through this experience. It’s probably the worst thing a human can experience, and she is going through it.”
Changing story
David Redmond initially told police that he had been napping with the baby and rolled over on him accidentally, according to court documents.
Dan Leonhardt, a doctor at the children’s hospital, said that Everett had a large skull fracture with soft tissue swelling. He had bleeding inside his skull and hemorrhaging in his eyes that extended all the way out to the periphery, according to the affidavit.
“In his opinion, this injury couldn’t have been caused by shaking alone and that it clearly involved blunt-force trauma,” Hafer wrote.
Leonhardt also said that the injuries could not have been caused by the father and child napping together, Hafer said.
David Redmond allegedly confessed that he had abused Everett at other times during the infant’s brief life. He said he forced Everett’s mouth shut at the jaw to try to stop him from crying, squeezed him, threw him onto the bed and threw him against a couch, causing the baby to fall onto the floor, according to court documents. He also spanked the baby when the baby was 1 week old, the court documents say.
David Redmond was convicted of criminal mischief in Oregon five years ago but has no other criminal history, Robinson said. He works as a laborer at a cabinet shop, according to court documents.
He appeared in court Monday wearing a “suicide smock.” The garment is made of tear-resistant fabric in order to make it more difficult for inmates to fashion it into a noose.
“We believe the defendant has mental issues,” Robinson said. “He had indicated he wants to die.”
Redmond has a tattoo upon his right shoulder referencing Biblical scripture in 2 Chronicles 7:14.
“If then my people, upon whom my name has been pronounced, humble themselves and pray, and seek my face and turn from their evil ways, I will hear them from heaven and pardon their sins and heal their land,” the scripture says.
Pastor Johnson asked the media to give the family and the church staff privacy as they mourn Everett’s death.
