1-year-old died of injuries suffered in 'rage incident,' court documents say
UPDATE: Tyree Resnover was sentenced to 38 years in the Indiana Department of Correction on March 3, 2023, according to the Marion County Prosecutor's Office. He was convicted of neglect of a dependent resulting in death on Jan. 25, 2023, after a three-day jury trial. A criminal charge brought against Kira Fear is pending.
The mother of a 1-year-old told police he fell down the stairs, but the autopsy tells a different story, according to court documents.
The Marion County Coroner's Office found that the boy, Dontrell Mcclung, suffered head trauma in a "single, rage incident," according to a probable-cause affidavit.
"Dr. (John) Cavanaugh stated the injuries were from child abuse and not from falling down the stairs," Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Detective Christopher Craighill wrote in the affidavit.
The boy was declared dead when Indianapolis medics found him on the north side the morning of Feb. 20, authorities said. Officers responded to the 6000 block of North Keystone Avenue and saw that people requesting help had flagged down an ambulance.
His mother, Kira Fear, 19, told police that she and her boyfriend, Tyree Resnover, 21, and her son had been staying at a nearby home in the 6000 block of Primrose Avenue.
The morning of the child's death, Fear said, the boy had tried to go up the stairs and "must have fallen," but said she didn't see him fall, according to the affidavit. He vomited, Fear reportedly said, but she didn't notice any marks on him. She put him to sleep and when she checked on him, he was breathing, Fear told police.
Fear then went to sleep. When she woke up around 10 a.m., the boy "didn't look right," she told police, per the affidavit. She Googled the nearest hospital and she and a friend of Resnover ended up near Glendale Mall, where they flagged down an ambulance.
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A search of Resnover's phone found several Google searches about concussions in children on Feb. 20, including "what is the sign of a concussion for a baby" and "how to tell (if) a concussion is serious," Craighill wrote in the affidavit.
An autopsy found that the toddler died from blunt-force trauma, police said. He had a "compression fracture to the skull" and suffered bruises on his legs that were patterns from "fingers or knuckles," the affidavit states.
The boy's death was ruled a homicide, authorities said.
When police pointed out the results of the autopsy, Fear became "aggressive" and said the child fell down the stairs, according to the affidavit.
Both Fear and Resnover were charged this week with neglect of an independent resulting in death, court records show.
IndyStar has left a message for Fear's attorney. Court records don't list a lawyer for Resnover.
Contact IndyStar reporter Crystal Hill at 317-444-6094 or cnhill@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter: @crysnhill.
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Tyree Resnover convicted of neglect of dependent in child's death
