Dad indicted for blinding newborn daughter, then "disappears" (Waynesville, North Carolina)

Dad JEREMIAH SECKMAN has been indicted for shaking his newborn daughter so hard she is permanently blinded. But rather than face the music, Dad has "disappeared." Dad has a criminal history, including assault.

http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091014/NEWS01/910140323

Man sought on shaken baby charge
By Jon Ostendorff • October 14, 2009 12:15 AM

WAYNESVILLE — A 24-year-old Haywood County man shook his newborn daughter so hard that she is permanently blind, an investigator said Tuesday.

The father, Jeremiah Seckman of the Jonathan Creek community, is now a fugitive from a warrant charging him with felony child abuse.

Sheriff's Det. James Marsh said Seckman had agreed to turn himself in after a grand jury indicted him two weeks ago. But right after the indictments were handed up on Sept. 29, Seckman disappeared, according to the detective.

Marsh is asking those with information about Seckman's whereabouts to call the Sherriff's Office or their local police department.

The child was injured sometime in the early morning hours of Aug. 17. Marsh said Seckman was caring for his five-week old baby girl that night while her mother was asleep.

The next morning, Seckman and his wife noticed the baby was having seizures and took the newborn to their pediatrician. The doctor sent the child on to Mission Hospital.

Staff there contacted the Haywood County Department of Social Services to report injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome, Marsh said.

He said doctors found that the child had been shaken so hard that her brain slammed against her skull, destroying her retinal tissue and causing permanent damage to the part of the brain that controls sight.

“The child will have a hard life now and probably not a long life,” he said.

Marsh said Seckman, who has a criminal history that includes assault, admitted some involvement in the injuries during an interview.

The child was born in Haywood County, although Seckman and his wife are not from the area.

“The parents thought this would be a good place to raise a child,” the detective said.

Seckman has lived in Ohio, Colorado, Florida and Hawaii. He was cleaning houses for a living, Marsh said.

The child is in protective custody with DSS.

Marsh said Seckman and his wife had watched a video about the dangers of shaking a child, which is shown to all new parents at Haywood Regional Hospital.

He urged other parents never to shake a baby.

Marsh said becoming a parent is often stressful. He said a parent who is feeling too stressed out by a crying child should put the baby in a safe place, like a crib, and take a break or ask for help.