Dad gets 15 years for killing 4-month-old son (Pineville, Missouri)

Not real clear, but it appears the parents were no longer together. Did this involve court-ordered joint custody/visitation? Dad is identified as TYLER WAELTZ.

http://www.joplinglobe.com/news/local_news/father-draws-prison-term-in-death-of-baby/article_06afe01d-127f-5c51-8874-3a9e8ab56b7d.html

Father draws prison term in death of baby
Posted: Wednesday, March 18, 2015 7:00 am
By Jeff Lehr

PINEVILLE, Mo. — A 20-year-old Pineville man pleaded guilty Tuesday and received a 15-year prison sentence for causing the death of his 4-month-old son a year ago by violently throwing him into a playpen and onto a couch.
Tyler Waeltz pleaded guilty in McDonald Circuit Court to abuse of a child resulting in death in a plea agreement calling for a 15-year prison term and waiving his right to a sentencing assessment. Circuit Judge Tim Perigo accepted the plea bargain and assessed the agreed-upon sentence.
The baby’s grandmother left the defendant's two children in his care on Feb. 17 of last year while she attended a funeral. A probable-cause affidavit filed in the case states that the children's mother had told the defendant that she found someone else and no longer wished to have him back in her life. He told investigators that this made him angry and that when the baby began crying, he dropped him into his playpen, where he landed on his head.
When the infant continued crying, he kicked the playpen “hard enough to turn it sideways,” the affidavit states. Later, he gave the boy a bath throughout which he continued crying. Waeltz said he then tossed the child onto a sectional couch. The baby’s body landed on the hard frame of the couch and Waeltz thought his head struck a toy truck that was wedged between the cushions.
He told investigators that his son’s eyes rolled back in his head and he began clinching his fists and gasping for air. He blew in the child’s face and shook him in an effort to get him breathing right, Waeltz told investigators.
The affidavit states that he then called a sister who advised him to call 911. The baby was taken to Mercy Hospital in Rogers, Arkansas, and then flown to Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock, where he died of the injuries.