The Duluth man who was arrested Thursday for the alleged murder of a 3-year-old child has been charged with second-degree murder.
The arrest of Jordan William Carter, 30, took place more than three months after the child died Sept. 6.
Due the nature of the child's injuries, the Duluth Police Department began an investigation. On Dec. 15, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a homicide by "blunt force trauma to the head and neck," the criminal complaint said.
PREVIOUSLY: Duluth man arrested after death of 3-year-old
On Sept. 4, the child's mother returned home from work to see Carter, her fiancé, rushing out of the house with the child's unresponsive body and saying they needed to drive to the hospital, the complaint said. On the way, the two pulled over and called 911. A Duluth officer responded to the 4700 block of East Colorado Street and performed CPR before the child was rushed to Essentia Health in Duluth.
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Essentia emergency room doctors discovered bruising down the child's body and determined he was suffering from traumatic brain injury. According to the complaint, they were worried the injuries were caused by non-accidental trauma and that they aligned with common child abuse injuries.
Soon after, the child was airlifted to the Children's Minnesota hospital in Minneapolis, where doctors found hemorrhaging in the brain and retinas along with internal abdominal injuries and a healing rib fracture they thought was likely a few weeks old.
Despite lifesaving measures, the child died two days later at Children's Minnesota.
The day before the child became unconscious, Carter told his fiancée he had heard the child fall down the stairs. Carter reported that the child started vomiting about an hour later. The complaint said the child started to return to his normal self later in the day and by Sept. 4, he was back to his usual routine.
Around 5:30 p.m. that day, shortly before the child's mother returned home from work, Carter said he found the child unresponsive in his room. Text messages between Carter and the child's mother revealed a message from Carter around noon Sept. 4 that read: "You gave birth to satan."
Children's Minnesota and the Medical Examiner's Office both determined the child's injuries were inconsistent with a fall down the stairs and that given the level of injury, he would not have returned to his normal self before the injuries left him unconscious.
Carter had his first appearance Friday afternoon in State District Court in Duluth.
