NEW CASTLE —
A weekend autopsy revealed that 6-week-old Terrance Murphy Jr. died from a fractured skull and brain hemorrhage.
His father, Terrance R. Murphy Sr., 21, is in the Lawrence County jail facing homicide-related charges.
Police learned of the infant’s death around 1 p.m. Friday when they were called to Jameson Hospital, according to court documents.
A hospital representative told them the baby was unresponsive when he arrived at the emergency room wearing only a diaper. Efforts to resuscitate him were unsuccessful.
Murphy told police he was at a Castle Arms apartment alone with the baby and had him propped up on the bed with a bottle of formula. He said he went to another room to smoke a cigarette and was gone a moment when he heard the baby choking. He ran back and saw the baby covered with vomit, he told police.
Murphy said he wiped off the baby and suctioned out his mouth and nose with a bulb syringe, but couldn’t tell if he was breathing, so he texted the baby’s mother, Tyrenna Stockton, and told her to come right away.
Murphy told police he gave the baby cardiopulmonary resuscitation.
He said when Stockton arrived, they called the baby’s aunt, who is a nurse. She told them to call 911, and the city fire department and ambulance personnel met them in the lobby.
Stockton told police she had left in the morning and received text messages from Murphy that something was wrong with the baby.
She said when she arrived she found the baby on the bed with vomit on him and Murphy performing CPR. She told police the infant had been throwing up his formula lately.
Police said they found the baby’s car seat on its side along the west wall of the living room and a large hole in the drywall on the south wall. Investigators determined the hole was consistent with the bottom of the car seat.
They learned from looking at Murphy’s phone that 25 minutes had elapsed between when he texted Stockton and 911 was called.
The police were summoned to the autopsy at Heritage Valley Health Center in Beaver around 7 p.m. Friday, and learned forensic pathologist Dr. James Smith had found a skull fracture.
Smith told them there was bleeding on the inside of the baby’s scalp and two large fractures on the left side of his skull. There also was a large brain hemorrhage.
Smith ruled the cause of death as homicide resulting from blunt force trauma to the head.
When police returned to Castle Arms to find Stockton, they found Murphy hiding in a bedroom closet and arrested him. Both were taken to the police station.
Stockton told police that the three of them had stayed at the apartment Thursday night and she had left Friday morning. She said when she returned, she found the baby propped up on the couch and he seemed fine.
She said she left again around 9:30 to run an errand and returned around 10 and the baby was propped on the bed drinking a bottle. She left at 10:15 for a job interview, she told police, and received text messages from Murphy around 11:30 a.m.
Murphy told police he had been in the shower and heard the baby crying. He said he grabbed the child from the living room and hurried into the bedroom with him. He said he was cradling the baby’s head in his left arm and struck the door frame with the baby.
He told police it was after that when he put the child on the bed, propped up a bottle for him, then went to smoke.
Murphy is charged with criminal homicide, aggravated assault and simple assault. He is in the Lawrence County jail without bond, awaiting a Dec. 11 preliminary hearing.
(Email: dwachter@ncnewsonline.com)
TOP STORIES
Related Photos
-
Terrance Murphy Jr.
Discussion
Homicide Charge: Autopsy shows baby had skull fractures
- TOP STORIES
-
-
Primary 2013: Six candidates seeking City Council nominations
Six Democratic candidates are seeking their party’s nominations for three seats in Tuesday’s primary. Voters will nominate two candidates on both Republican and Democratic ballots for four-year terms and one candidate for a two-year term.
-
New Castle Schools: District answers two state audit findings
New Castle school district administration answered two of the findings in a state auditor general’s preliminary report. The audit, which has not yet been finalized, covered the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years. The preliminary report also contains an observation, which the district answered.
-
Photo Gallery, Video: Procession, flag-waving crowds salute fallen policeman
Throngs of people crowded along East Washington Street Wednesday, paying final tribute to fallen officer William J. “Jerry” McCarthy IV. A motorcade of about 20 motorcycles and more than 200 police cruisers, all with flashing red and blue lights, created a sensation as it rode slowly toward Shenango Township.
-
New Castle Schools: Finding pinpoints nonpaying out-of-district pupils
New Castle school board members are waiting for the final determinations of a state audit that contained three preliminary findings. Earlier this month the board publicly discussed those findings from the 2009-10 and 2010-11 school years, and the district administration has responded to two of them to the Pennsylvania Department of the Auditor General.
-
Photo Gallery, Story: Ceremony remembers fallen officers
Last year there were 12. This year, there are 13. The law enforcement community paused Thursday to remember Lawrence County’s fallen officers in a ceremony outside the New Castle police station.
-
Pulaski officer honored for heroic efforts
A Pulaski Township patrolman was named April 2013’s Officer of the Month by the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.
-
County considering jail privatization
Lawrence County government officials are mulling the idea of privatizing the jail. The matter came to light when a company toured the 268-bed facility after answering a request for proposals that was sent out by the commissioners.
-
New PennDOT website to outline road, bridge work
Pennsylvania senators hit the highway Tuesday at the end of their May session without confronting a bill that would pour billions into road and bridge repairs and construction.
-
Hilcorp might drill in Neshannock Township
Marcellus Shale drilling could be moving into Neshannock Township. A Hilcorp Energy Co. representative said during the Neshannock supervisors meeting Tuesday that the company has leased Millennium Park property off King’s Chapel Road for possible drilling.
-
Suspect in officer’s death jailed in county
Kylee Gwen Barletto was composed walking into court Monday until a television reporter pelted her with questions. Escorted by two state troopers, she was asked, “What do you have to say to the police officer’s family?” “I’m sorry,” she uttered as she was ushered into the court lobby. Then she burst into tears.
- More TOP STORIES Headlines
-
