Inset (left): Christopher Evans (Hamilton County Sheriff's Office). Inset (right): Naomi Evans (GoFundMe). Background: Red Bank Road in Cincinnati, Ohio (Google Maps).
An Ohio man with a past conviction for assaulting a baby is now accused of killing his newborn daughter.
Christopher Evans, 35, is behind bars at the Hamilton County Justice Center after being charged with murder, felonious assault, and endangering children. Police arrested him on Thursday, days after officers responded to a 911 call from Evans' home in Cincinnati, Ohio, reporting an unresponsive child. According to reporting by local Fox affiliate WXIX, the Cincinnati Fire Department brought 24-day-old Naomi Evans to Cincinnati Children's Hospital around 8:45 p.m. on Sept. 5.
The newborn girl died of her injuries the next day.
WXIX reported that the Hamilton County Coroner's Office released its preliminary findings on Tuesday, and police determined that Naomi's death was "suspicious." According to a criminal complaint obtained by the outlet, baby Naomi suffered "massive head trauma resulting in a skull fracture and bleeding to the brain," allegedly caused by "physical force" at the hands of her father.
A GoFundMe started by a person named Chris Evans to raise money for Naomi's funeral was launched the day after police said Naomi died.
According to WXIX, Evans was previously convicted of felonious assault and endangering children in connection with a 2015 incident involving his son, who was a newborn at the time of the attack.
On Oct. 18, 2015, Evans was alone caring for his son while his wife was running errands. Evans admitted to police that he threw his then-newborn son down on a changing table, which caused "subdural bleeding, a brain injury, retinal hemorrhages and fractures in his legs."
When his wife returned, the couple noticed that the little boy's "lips and face had turned blue and the infant was unresponsive." According to court documents obtained by WXIX, Evans told police at the time that he "had been bouncing the baby too hard. [He] told the detectives he bounced his son up and down with a force of '8 out of 10.' [He] also told detectives that when he changed his son's diaper by himself in the child's bedroom, he became frustrated and upset."
A jury found Evans guilty in January 2017 and he was sentenced to three years in prison with credit for 83 days served. He was released from prison early — December 2018 — and was allowed to serve the rest of his sentence on probation.
Evans was scheduled to appear in court on Friday. His next court date has not been scheduled yet.