Dad charged with murder in beating death of 4-year-old son; was this a custodial situation? (Marion County, Indiana)

Some interesting things are said--and not said--here.

Notice that dad DENNIS PRICE admitted (or so the police say) that he beat this child to death OVER SEVERAL DAYS. Which raises the question of why did another adult (i.e. the mother?) NOT intervene? If there was another adult in the home, and this person failed to intervene, then typically that person is charged with child neglect or some variation thereof.

But that didn't happen. Which suggests that Daddy lived alone.

So what happened to Mom? Is this a custody/visitation situation? And if so, why was a violent father with a history of drug abuse AND BATTERY granted any unsupervised contact with a young child?

Indiana is a big fathers rights state, so the possibility that this goon had custody of some sort is a very real possibility.

http://www.indystar.com/story/news/crime/2014/08/26/father-accused-beating-year-old-son-death/14625153/

Father accused of beating 4-year-old son to death

Bill McCleery and Diana Penner
5:08 p.m. EDT August 26, 2014

Over the course of several days, a 29-year-old father repeatedly beat his 4-year-old son with a belt and fists until the boy died of traumatic injuries, police said in a court document.

Dennis Price was being held Tuesday at the Marion County Jail on charges of murder, battery resulting in serious bodily injury of a person less than 14 years old and neglect of a dependent resulting in death.

Formal charges were filed today in Marion Superior Court by the Marion County prosecutor's office.

Police were called around 7 p.m. Saturday to Price's home in the 900 block of East 42nd Street on the Northside, according to court documents. Price apparently called 911 and reported that the child was not breathing after a "possible overdose," according to a detective with the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department.

The child, Derick Jones, was pronounced dead at 7:45 p.m. Saturday at IU Health Methodist Hospital, police said. Officers arrested Price early Sunday.

Price admitted, police said, that "over the course of the last couple of days," he "repeatedly whipped with a black belt and punched his son, DJ, about the body and head to the point where DJ eventually began acting differently, lost consciousness and ultimately died," the documents state.

Price said he gave the child Ibuprofen in efforts to reduce swelling to the boy's face. When he saw the boy was no longer responding, Price waited about 15 minutes before calling 911, police said. Price told police he attempted CPR, according to court documents.

An autopsy found the boy sustained "blunt force trauma on all extremities, including the torso, sides, chest, stomach, neck and head area," according to court documents. "Also specifically noted were a broken rib on the left side" and hemorrhaging in the boy's right lung and elsewhere.

Price has a criminal record that includes convictions for cocaine dealing in 2008 and battery with a deadly weapon in 2003. In 2011, he was charged with domestic battery but convicted of a lesser charge of invasion of privacy.