Trending
STRUTHERS -- After nearly three weeks in the hospital, a baby has died from injuries reportedly inflicted when a family friend shook him because he would not stop crying.
Struther police detective Rich Craig said he was notified early Tuesday that Elijah Dennis, 5 weeks old, died at Akron Children's Hospital's main campus.
Christian Jones, 29, of Youngstown, is charged with felonious assault, a second-degree felony, but Craig said he is still discussing the case with the Mahoning County Prosecutor's Office. He did not say whether the charges may be altered.
Jones has not yet been indicted yet but the case is being presented to a Mahoning County grand jury. The Prosecutor's Office cannot comment on matters before the grand jury, so it is uncertain whether any changes in charges against Jones will be made in light of the boy's death.
The boy's family has posted links to a GoFundMe drive on their Facebook pages but had not made any statement on social media about Elijah's death as of Tuesday afternoon.
An affidavit attached to the case on the Struthers Municipal Court website, filed by Struthers Law Director John Zomoida, explains the circumstances leading up to the baby's injury and Jones's arrest.
The document states that police were called to the Geneva Avenue home about 6 p.m. Aug. 5 for an unresponsive infant. Fire department medics performed CPR, and the baby was transported to Akron Children's and almost immediately taken by emergency helicopter to the hospital's main campus.
The report states that by 1:30 a.m. Aug. 6, they learned Elijah was on life support and not expected to survive. The boy was in a medically induced coma but "showing signs of improvement" as of Aug. 15, based on what his family told one local media outlet recently.
The affidavit states that the boy's parents left the house at 3:30 p.m. and instructed another person there, not Jones, to watch Elijah.
Jones told police the other person fell asleep while playing video games and when the baby awoke and started crying Jones gave him a bottle and tried to calm him.
The document states that Jones first told police the baby was briefly calm but began crying again and when he picked him up Elijah was limp and less responsive than usual.
Jones first said he called 911 immediately, but then told police he had difficulty making any calls because his phone only operated through the TextNow app via Wi-Fi and there was a connectivity problem in the house. He said he couldn't use the other person's phone because it was password protected.
The affidavit states Jones then admitted that he had "shaken or forcefully bounced" Elijah while trying to calm him.
Jones allegedly said: "I must have shook him hard. I don't know" and "I guess I bounced him too hard. I don't know."
When confronted by police about why he made inconsistent or allegedly untruthful statements, Jones reportedly said "because I don't want to go to jail."
Jones's bond has been set at $50,000 and he's ordered to have no contact with the family. Online court records show Jones has two prior run-ins with the law in Mahoning County.
In 2015, he pleaded guilty or no contest to a shoplifting charge from JCPenney. In 2016, he pleaded guilty to charges filed by the Mahoning County dog warden for failure to obtain licensure for a kennel and failure to vaccinate animals.