GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. - Matthew Doyle, 28, is facing murder charges for the death of his 3-month-old son, Sabastian Doyle. The boy's father is accused of shaking the infant to death.
Doyle was originally charged with 1st degree child abuse on Friday, Nov. 16 before the baby died. Following an autopsy, the Kent County Prosecutor's Office charged the 28-year-old father with murder on Tuesday, Nov. 20.
On Wednesday, Nov. 14, the Kent County Sheriff's Office responded to a medical call on College Avenue in Gaines Township about the infant. Sabastian was transported to Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, and CT scan results showed the the baby was bleeding on both sides of his brain. He also was anoxic, which is a brain injury caused by a lack of oxygen.
The 3-month-old died on Saturday, Nov. 17 as a result of the injuries consistent with shaken baby syndrome.
When police interviewed Doyle, he admitted to shaking the baby "from side to side"on Wednesday morning. He told police that the baby fainted after shaking him. Doyle also confessed to shaking the infant two weeks earlier.
During the investigation, police interviewed members of Doyle's household. They made statements to the fact that Sabastian was unusually fussy and had a lower activity level over the past 10 days to two weeks, which they attributed to teething.
All members of the household expressed their concerns to police that Doyle has anger issues and he does not handle stress well. They said they have heard him yell at the baby in the past.
This is the fourth time this year where a parent has been charged in the death of their child in Kent County. There is no explanation for this apparent increase in baby deaths, said Sgt. Joel Roon of the Kent County Sheriff's Office.
"It's been a very sad year for those types of cases, and it's been very taxing on the families and the communities around these families [and] the investigators," Roon said. "These types of cases tend to send a really chilling ripple effect through everybody that knows about them."
People who know they have a short fuse or history of anger should have a plan going into situations where they are the sole caregiver for a child, he said.
"It's so much better to have a plan," Roon said. "It's so much better to lay that baby down for a few minutes if you need to and walk away to collect yourself than finding yourself in a position of hurting your child."
Doyle is charged with two counts of first-degree child abuse and felony murder. He faces life in prison without parole and is lodged at the Kent County Jail on a $1 million bond.
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