Babysitting dad charged with squeezing 7-week-old son to death (Minneapolis, Minnesota)

Dad ALEXANDER BRENNAN HEIKES admits he has a "rage problem." Because Dad couldn't find work, didn't finish high school, had a failing relationship, and was generally bummed about "his spot in life" (ad nauseum), he took out his rage on his 7-week-old son and "squeezed" him to death. Of course, he was babysitting at the time.

http://www.twincities.com/localnews/ci_13034551

Minneapolis father charged with squeezing infant son to death
Boy squeezed to death, autopsy finds
By David Hanners
Updated: 08/10/2009 11:19:41 PM CDT

He asked the police detectives for help with his "rage problem."

Unfortunately for Alexander Brennan Heikes' dead 7-week-old son, the request came too late. Hours earlier, in what prosecutors claimed was a fit of anger over his failure to find work, his failure to finish high school and his failed relationship, Heikes squeezed his son, Alexander Heikes, to death.

Heikes, 19, of Minneapolis, was charged Monday with second-degree murder in the child's July 4 death. His first court appearance is set for today.

"This is a pretty ugly case," said Hennepin County Attorney Michael Freeman, whose office charged Heikes. "He just put the thumbs in the stomach and hands in the back and squeezed."

The baby's liver and spleen were lacerated and the infant bled out into his abdomen, the medical examiner's office said.

Heikes was being held in the Hennepin County Adult Detention Center, his bail set at $750,000.

The charge filed against Heikes alleges that the death was unintentional, but that the murder occurred in the course of another crime, first-degree assault. The crime carries a maximum 40 years in prison.

An affidavit by Assistant County Attorney Therese Galatowitsch says the police investigation found the events that led to the baby's death began about 1 a.m. July 4 after the child's mother had gone out with a friend and left the baby with Heikes. Heikes and the woman — identified only as "G.L." in the criminal complaint — live together in a studio apartment in the 2500 block of Golden Valley Road in Minneapolis' Willard-Hay neighborhood.

Apparently, Heikes had been stewing about "his spot in life," said Freeman. He was angry that he hadn't graduated from high school, he had no job prospects and his relationship with Alexander's mother was souring. He was also angry, Freeman said, "at the fact she was out at 1 o'clock in the morning."

The baby began fussing in his crib. Police said Heikes later told them that when the baby stirred, he picked him up "and held the child in front of him with his fingers near the child's spine and his thumbs on the child's abdomen. The defendant admitted he aggressively squeezed" the child, Galatowitsch wrote.

Heikes later claimed that the child began having difficulty breathing, the complaint says. He tried soothing the infant by placing him on his chest and lying down on the bed with him, the complaint says.

"When he woke up a couple hours later, at around 3 a.m., he realized that (the child) wasn't breathing and appeared to be dead," the complaint says. About an hour later — after talking to the child's mother on the phone — Heikes called 911.

When police arrived, they allegedly found Heikes standing outside the apartment, phone in one hand, dead son in the other.

The Hennepin County medical examiner's office determined that Alexander died from "blunt force trauma." Doctors also determined that the baby "had numerous areas of bruising on his abdomen in addition to 10 to 12 healing rib fractures," the complaint said.

When police questioned Heikes, he confessed to what he had done, wrote Galatowitsch, and also "asked the investigators for help with his rage problem."

Freeman didn't mince words when asked if Heikes had had other options.

"If he'd called 911 at 1 o'clock when he had this rage, they would've come and picked the child up," the prosecutor said. "There are social services available 24/7, 365, who can help people who don't know what to do. In a moment of despair or rage, there are places that can take a kid off your hands and help you out."