WEST VALLEY CITY — The former boyfriend of a West Valley City woman has been booked into jail in connection with the death of the woman's 6-month-old son from an anoxic brain injury in May, police said.
Reed Wilcox was arrested Friday and booked into the Salt Lake County Adult Detention Center after a lengthy investigation into the death, according to a press release from the West Valley City Police Department.
Recently released court documents stated that Wilcox told investigators in July he had found the infant face down on a sofa after falling asleep. He was supposed to be watching the boy while the mother slept in another room.
Police also found Wilcox had done searches on SIDS on his laptop as well as on strangulation and "what to do when interviewed by police detectives" according to the search warrant, signed Aug.1 and made public in late September.
Wilcox said he "was unable to put into words what had actually happened to (the infant)," according to court documents, and made statements that he couldn't "even forgive myself about this. I haven't been able to sleep through the night and it still affects me every day."
The boy was unresponsive when police were called May 26 to respond to a report of an infant with a breathing problem. He was declared brain dead at Primary Children's Medical Center and died May 30 after being taken off life support, the warrant stated.
Court records stated that an autopsy concluded the cause of the infant's death was undetermined but "was not the result of SIDS."
E-mail: lisa@desnews.com Twitter: dnewspolitics