An Idaho father has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly shaking his 2-month-old daughter to death, authorities said.
Roger Aaron Denig, 21, of Salmon, Idaho, is accused of inflicting traumatic brain injuries and broken ribs on his daughter, Ammarie, who died on June 25 at Primary Children’s Hospital in Salt Lake City.
The investigation began on June 21, when the baby’s mother called 911, saying Ammarie was not breathing. Emergency medical technicians who responded to the call noticed bruises on the baby’s forehead and upper body that appeared to be older injuries, according to court documents.
Denig told the E.M.T.s that Ammarie had a condition that caused her to choke and that he had tried to perform C.P.R. on her. He also said the baby had fallen from a chair earlier that day.
But doctors at the hospital where Ammarie was taken said her injuries were consistent with shaken baby syndrome, a form of child abuse that involves violent shaking of an infant, causing brain damage and sometimes death.
“Additional signs show tearing of the brain, which is consistent with a sudden, external, physical assault,” Dr. Jeff Keller, a pediatrician who specializes in child abuse and neglect, told investigators. “There is retinal hemorrhage in both eyes, which is present with traumatic head injuries, (and) the CT scan showed several broken ribs in various stages of healing that could be between 10 to 14 days old, (and) signs of old bruises on the child’s chest.”
Dr. Keller also said he had seen children who had fallen from greater heights and did not suffer such severe injuries.
“I’ve seen children who have fallen out of second story windows. I’ve seen children who’ve fallen off roofs…and I tell you from my experience, this sort of fall does not cause that injury,” he said.
The baby’s mother told detectives that she had left Ammarie with her grandmother while she and Denig went to the dump twice that day. When they returned home, she said she went to lie down with the baby, who became fussy but then fell asleep. She said Denig came into the room and took Ammarie to another room where they had a rocking chair.
“Denig came into the room and got Ammarie from the bed and took her to the other room where they have a rocking chair to rock her because she likes that,” she said.
She said she heard a thump and then Denig yelling for her to call 911.
Denig was arrested on June 26 and is being held in the Lemhi County Jail on $500,000 bail. He appeared before Magistrate Judge Andrew Woolf on Monday afternoon.
Shaken baby syndrome is a widely recognized but controversial diagnosis that has been challenged by some doctors who think it is unproven and over-diagnosed.
“You’d better be darned sure that you can prove what you’re saying…that you can show it in a laboratory that it really exists. And that hasn’t happened yet,” Dr. Ronald Uscinski, a doctor who disputes the shaken baby syndrome diagnosis, told CBS News in 2001.
Shaken baby syndrome has also been at the center of several high-profile cases, such as that of Louise Woodward, an English nanny who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in 1997 for shaking an 8-month-old boy in her care. She was later released after her sentence was reduced to time served.
Relevant articles:
-Man charged with murder after ‘willfully and deliberately’ torturing baby girl, deputies say, East Idaho News, June 26, 2023
-A Mother Accused, CBS News, February 12, 2001
-What is shaken baby syndrome (SBS)? Medical condition explored ahead of ID’s Killer Nanny, Sportskeeda, June 25, 2023