Kyle Deering Kregling (Battle Creek Sheriff's Office)
A 32-year-old father in Michigan will spend over a decade behind bars for killing his 8-month-old son, slamming the little boy into the ground because he would not stop crying. Kyle Deering Kregling was ordered by 37th Circuit Court Judge John A. Hallacy on Monday to serve a sentence between 17 and 50 years in a state correctional facility over the brutal 2020 slaying of young Chris Kregling, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
In June, Kyle Kregling pleaded no contest to one count of second-degree murder in his son's death. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed charges of first-degree child abuse and open murder, where a jury would have the option to find the defendant guilty of first or second-degree murder.
Judge Hallacy also credited Kregling with 1,043 days already served.
According to a press release from the Battle Creek Police Department from Nov. 5, 2020, officers and medical personnel on Monday, Nov. 2, 2020, responded to an emergency call about an unresponsive infant at Kregling's home located in the 100 block of West Territorial Road. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders located the victim and transported him via LifeCare Ambulance to the Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo for treatment.
Chris Kregling was admitted to the facility in critical condition. Unfortunately, the infant was pronounced dead from a severe head injury on Nov. 4, 2020, two days after his arrival.
In interviews with investigators, Kyle Kregling initially claimed that before calling 911, his son had fallen off of his bed and injured himself. However, police noted in the release that the officers who responded to the home "believed the child's injuries may not have been consistent with an accidental fall."
A subsequent autopsy performed by the Calhoun County Medical Examiner's Office determined that Chris Kregling's manner of death was a homicide and the Detective Bureau and Crime Lab were called in to assist in the case.
A copy of the probable cause affidavit obtained by Grand Rapids NBC affiliate WOOD-TV provided additional details about the appalling crime.
According to the report, police and medics who responded to the initial 911 call at Kregling's home noted that the infant had what appeared to be a fresh bruise on his forehead.
Investigators reportedly continued to question Kyle Kregling and pressed him as to the circumstances of Chris Kregling's death. In a subsequent interview, Kyle Kregling reportedly admitted that on the day his son suffered the fatal injuries, he had dropped the boy in a bedroom. He said Chris Kregling fell and struck the bed frame before hitting the floor, WOOD reported.
After the fall, Kregling reportedly told police that Chris Kregling would not stop crying, causing him to grow increasingly "frustrated." Kregling then admitted that he began to shake his infant son, but the boy kept crying, so he finally "slammed Chris to the ground," the affidavit reportedly states.
After being "slammed," the infant stopped crying, but also became completely unresponsive. Kregling said he tried pinching and biting the child's rear to provoke a response but was unsuccessful. He then called Chris Kregling's mother, who is now his ex-girlfriend, before calling 911, per WOOD.
"Just about every one of these child abuse death cases is preventable," Calhoun County Prosecutor David Gilbert told MLive after the sentencing hearing. "It can be very tough being a parent, but this is never acceptable."
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