Baby dies while left alone;"caretaker" dad is out drinking while mom is in military (Golden, Colorado)

This article provides additional information on this case, which we first posted about yesterday. Turns out that Mom is in the military in another state, while Grandma was at work. Daddy JOSEPH TRUJILLO was out drinking at a local bar "for six or seven hours." That leaves the baby, who was apparently left alone at home, where he died of as of yet unidentified causes.

Color me old-fashioned, but I think there's something basically wrong with a world where the mothers of newborns are called into military service while healthy young men called fathers lounge around bars. I have no doubts that women can do an excellent job of fighting and defending their country. I'm not so sure that there are a lot of daddies who are willing and able to take care of the babies while the mamas are gone, though.

http://www.thestarpress.com/article/20100122/NEWS06/100122017/1002/NEWS01/Colo.-infant-left-alone-dies-while-dad-is-out-drinking

Colo. infant left alone dies while dad is out drinking
GANNETT NEWS SERVICE • January 22, 2010

GOLDEN, Colo. — Deputies arrested a 23-year-old father Thursday on suspicion of first-degree murder after they say his infant son died after being left alone for hours while the father was out drinking.

Jacki Kelley, a spokeswoman for the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office, says the baby’s paternal grandmother called 911 around 12:30 a.m. Kelley says the baby’s grandmother lives with her son and was awakened by the sobs of her son, who was crying and holding his unresponsive son.

“During the day the grandmother was working,” Kelley said. “She was not home, he was not home, the infant was left alone at that home. At the end of the evening, she did come home from work, she made an observation that the baby was not in its crib she made an assumption that the child was with its father.”

Deputies say the grandmother is “devastated” and is not considered a suspect.

When deputies and paramedics arrived at the home, it was already too late. The 5-month-old infant was pronounced dead at the scene.

Deputies arrested the infant’s father, Joseph Trujillo, on first-degree murder charges, and investigators are now working to notify next of kin.

They had some trouble notifying the baby’s mother because she is in the military and on a base in another state, but she has now been notified.

Investigators worked through the night interviewing Trujillo, the baby’s grandmother and a number of other witnesses. They say they learned Trujillo left the baby alone in the apartment for between six and seven hours while he drank at a local bar.

Trujillo was booked into the Jefferson County Jail where he’s being held without bond.

An autopsy is being performed on the infant to determine the exact cause and manner of death.