"Caretaking" dad charged with involuntary manslaughter in death of 2-month-old daughter (Portage County, Ohio)

Another one of those cases where the unemployed (deadbeat) dad was drafted into infant caretaking--with disastrous results.

Dad is identified as TIMOTHY T. SULLIVAN.

http://www.ohio.com/news/portage-county-father-indicted-in-daughter-s-death-1.456341

Ohio.com

Portage County father indicted in daughter’s death

By Ed Meyer
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: December 31, 2013 - 09:46 PM

A 25-year-old Portage County man has been jailed without bond after being charged with involuntary manslaughter, felonious assault and other offenses in connection with the death of his 2½-month-old daughter last summer.

Timothy T. Sullivan, of Maplegrove Drive in the village of Windham, was arrested by sheriff’s deputies Tuesday following a four-month investigation of the incident.

Portage County Sheriff’s Lt. Gregory A. Johnson, commander of the detective bureau, said Sullivan reported waking up on the morning of Aug. 22 and finding his daughter unresponsive inside the family’s apartment.

Johnson said Sullivan, who was unemployed at the time, was alone and caring for the child when he made the emergency call about 11:45 a.m.

Sullivan’s wife, Harley Sullivan, 22, was attending classes that morning at Fortis College’s Ravenna campus, Johnson said.

The infant’s manner of death initially was categorized by the Portage County coroner as “undetermined,” Johnson said. After an investigation by sheriff’s deputies and an autopsy by the Summit County Medical Examiner’s Office, however, the case was ruled a homicide.

“There are indications of suffocation,” Johnson said.

Sullivan, the child’s biological father, also was indicted on one count of reckless homicide, three counts of child endangering and one count of tampering with evidence.

Citing a continuing investigation, Johnson declined to comment on where the child was found inside the apartment when Sullivan reported finding her unresponsive.

The case has been assigned to Common Pleas Judge John Enlow. Sullivan’s next court appearance is pending, Johnson said.

The child’s name was not released.