HOUSTON – A father and mother were arrested on Monday in connection to the 2022 death of their 5-month-old baby in southeast Houston.
Dequindre Davis, 27, and Alexis Smith, 23, were charged with injury to a child. Smith was being held at the Harris County Jail on a $250,000 bond.
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Emergency crews responded to the couple’s apartment in the 5900 block of Selinsky Road around 9:45 a.m. on Dec. 29, 2022.
Upon arrival, they found the baby, De’Quan Davis, not breathing.
Houston Fire Department paramedics transported the child to Texas Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Afterward, investigators interviewed the parents to try and determine what happened.
According to court documents, Davis and Smith had four children together, and De’Quan had a twin sibling.
Court documents stated, Davis said he swaddled the twin babies, put them to sleep and then went to sleep himself. He was allegedly woken up because Smith was screaming.
Davis said Smith called 911, while he performed CPR on the child until first responders arrived.
The mother told investigators a similar story, adding that she noticed De’Quan was not breathing around 6:30 a.m. when she woke up to feed them.
Authorities said an autopsy revealed De’Quan had several injuries and broken bones that had not been cared for.
The autopsy report lists the following injuries:
- Multiple rib fractures consistent with one traumatic event involving compression occurring several weeks prior to death
- Defects to the left and right arm bones
- Fractures consistent with shearing, torsion forces to the left wrist that happened several weeks prior to the death
- Fractures consistent with shearing, torsion forces to the left leg that happened weeks prior to the death
- Abrasions of the face and neck, scars on the left shoulder and the anterior and posterior torso, and bifront temporal subscalpular hemorrhages
The surviving twin also had a fracture in the left forearm.
According to documents, the parents said they were not aware of their children’s injuries and could not explain how the 5-month-old had been hurt.
The findings allege the parents caused serious bodily injury to the 5-month-old by pulling, twisting, squeezing and striking the child with their hands. The couple is also accused of causing bodily injury by omission and not protecting the child.
The couple was initially charged on April 27.