HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A 25-year-old father who was accused of covering up and causing his 3-week-old son’s death was fighting charges on Friday in Broward County.
Anfernee Watts, who also has a 2-year-old daighter, appeared in Broward bond court on Thursday, and a judge denied him bail.
Watts “admitted to fabricating a story to present to law enforcement, placing the deceased baby back into the playpen in an effort to make it appear as though the baby died in his sleep,” a police officer wrote, according to an arrest warrant.
Crystal Garcia was 20 years old when she gave birth to their son on July 11 at Memorial Regional Hospital, according to police.
A pediatrician reported the baby boy was in good health on July 28, according to the arrest warrant. The tragedy unfolded a few days later.
“She intentionally restrained the baby by tightly wrapping him in a blanket, securing a pacifier in his mouth, and strapping him into a car seat before placing him inside a bathtub and isolating him behind a closed door while loud music played,” and she “willfully ignored his distress and failed to check on him for several hours,” a detective wrote, according to the warrant.
Hollywood Fire Rescue personnel pronounced the baby dead at 1:50 p.m. on Aug. 1st, in a house at 6660 Thomas St., records show.
Police officers noticed a “disposable changing pad that appeared to have blood spotting on it,” and the baby “had visible foam in his mouth and cracked lips that appeared to have dried blood on them,” according to the arrest warrant.
Watts told police officers that he had attended a job interview when the baby died, but the alleged interviewee said that was false, according to the warrant.
The Broward Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the baby’s cause of death to be suffocation and the manner of death to be a homicide. The evidence also includes a video recorded by a Ring surveillance camera showing Garcia with a garbage bag before calling 911.
Watts’ mother contacted police to report that Garcia, 21, told her the baby died while pinned between the bed frame and the mattress, according to an arrest warrant.
Garcia left voicemails to police from Aug. 4 to Wednesday and admitted to lying and to report that she had “smothered” the baby, according to the arrest warrant.
“Crystal admitted she lied to the police out of fear of being arrested,” a police officer wrote, according to the arrest warrant.
The U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force arrested the couple on Wednesday.
Corrections was holding Garcia without bond on Friday at the North Broward Bureau, a detention center in Pompano Beach, according to inmate records.
Garcia and Watts are each facing five charges: Obstruction of a criminal investigation, aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect with great bodily harm, tampering with evidence, and willfully touching, removing, or disturbing a dead body, clothing, or surrounding items without authorization.
Watt’s mother has had custody of their 2-year-old daughter since she was about 5 months old after Garcia and the baby tested positive for THC at birth, according to the arrest warrant.
Read a part of the arrest warrant
Related story: Couple appears in Broward court accused of 3-week-old son’s death and cover up
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