Dad on trial for kiling 18-month-old son; allegedly suffocated the boy to get him to "sleep" (Cedar Falls, Iowa)

Sounds like this wasn't the first time Daddy suffocated this baby to "help" him "sleep."

Dad is identified as DANIEL REDDOUT.

http://www.kwwl.com/story/23469922/2013/09/18/cedar-falls-father-in-court-accused-of-suffocating-son

Cedar Falls father in court, accused of suffocating son

Posted: Sep 18, 2013 6:34 PM EDT
Updated: Sep 18, 2013 6:44 PM EDT

Written by Nikki Newbrough, Multimedia Journalist

WATERLOO (KWWL) - The trial started Wednesday for a Cedar Falls man accused of killing his 18-month-old son.

Daniel Reddout is accused of suffocating his son Kaleb at the Midway Motel on April 4, 2011. Authorities say Reddout suffocated Kaleb to get him to sleep.

Starting Wednesday morning, the prosecution called some of their first witnesses -- including Jeff Bond, one of two paramedics on scene. Bond said they were dispatched at around 8 p.m. the night of April 4 for a cardiac arrest. He was told Kaleb had been napping for about two hours before the people inside the room tried waking him up.

Bond says a woman was trying to do CPR, but stopped when she saw him enter the room.

"He appeared lifeless. Which is your first visual examination of the patient, and then of course when you can lay your hands on them, taking a pulse there was no pulse, no spontaneous breathing. The patient was obviously -- the skin color was poor," said Bond.

Bond says normally it's hard to revive a child from cardiac arrest.

The prosecution also called Dana Hacker, a friend of Reddout's girlfriend and Kaleb's mother.

He says when Reddout would attempt to put Kaleb to sleep, it wouldn't take him a long time, and the night of April 4 was no exception.

He says Kaleb was crying when Reddout was trying to put him down for a nap. Hacker says Reddout yelled at Kaleb and held him down, but that's all Hacker could see.

Hacker says it was a few hour later when they checked on Kaleb.

"I had called 911 because I knew that that wasn't normal at all," said Hacker. "And I told them that they needed to get over there now and Dan had just been screaming, 'My boy, my boy, not my boy.'"

Hacker says Kaleb was asleep for a few hours and he was concerned, but never said anything to Reddout.

Hacker also says Kaleb's skin looked pale with red blotchy patches.

Reddout is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of child endangerment.