Muncie father charged in child's death arrested in Illinois
MUNCIE, Ind. — A Muncie father charged in connection with his three-month-old daughter's death has been arrested in Illinois.
Jacob M. Vera, 24, was charged March 29 in Delaware Circuit Court 3 with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony carrying up to 40 years in prison.
City police said Vera fled to Illinois on March 25, the day of his daughter's death.
On Friday, Melissa Criswell, a Muncie deputy police chief, said Vera had been arrested April 8 by sheriff's deputies in Tazewell County, Illinois, about 245 miles northwest of Muncie.
He was being held Friday in the Tazewell County jail in Pekin, Illinois, awaiting extradition to Delaware County.
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According to an affidavit, Muncie police were called on the evening of March 25 to the Bestway Inn, 4000 N. Broadway, after a woman reported she had returned to her room after working and found her three-month-old daughter "unresponsive and not breathing."
The woman's other child, who is 16 months old, was found in a mobile crib, and both children had reportedly been left unattended by Vera, who is their father, the court document said.
The baby girl — who was pronounced dead at the scene — had been left swaddled in a blanket and in a baby swing, investigators said.
After an autopsy was conducted at IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital, a pathologist determined the baby had died as a result of "asphyxiation."
Muncie police spoke to Vera by phone on March 28. He reportedly indicated he was in Peoria, Illinois, and acknowledged he had left his children unattended in the motel room.
After he is transferred to the Delaware County jail, Vera will be held under a $50,000 bond.
Douglas Walker is a news reporter at The Star Press. Contact him at 765-213-5851 or at dwalker@muncie.gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: Muncie father charged in child's death arrested in Illinois
