Inset: Christopher Jenkins (Harris County Sheriff's Office). Background: The Texas apartment complex where Christopher Jenkins allegedly killed his 7-week-old son (KTRK/YouTube).
A Texas father spiked his 7-week-old son on a bed like a football — telling cops "he bounced so high" and landed on the floor — because he was crying "too much," according to police. The man then scooped the boy off the floor and allegedly shook him until he was dead.
Christopher Jenkins, 26, is charged with capital murder for the July 2025 slaying, which is documented in a criminal complaint and probable cause affidavit obtained by Law&Crime.
Jenkins allegedly admitted to throwing his son down on the bed and shaking him, with a witness saying she heard him telling the boy to "shut the f— up" during the horrifying ordeal, according to the affidavit. Police say he used a doll to demonstrate what happened to the child.
"There was too much crying in my mind," Jenkins told investigators, according to the affidavit. "It just clicked."
Police say they visited Jenkins' apartment in Baytown and conducted a "walkthrough" with him, during which a "SUIDI doll" was given to the man to show what happened. SUIDI dolls are described online as "specialty investigative dolls for infant death investigations" that are "essential tools for investigators in sudden unexpected infant death cases," per the doll company's website.
"[Investigators] handed the SUIDI doll to defendant and instructed him to treat the doll as he would [the victim]," the affidavit explains. "While holding the SUIDI doll, defendant stated, 'I end up taking it and just…' He then asked, 'Can I throw this?'"
While demonstrating with the SUIDI doll, Jenkins allegedly threw it onto the bed and recounted how his son "flipped away over there," while pointing to the opposite end of the bed, and landed on the floor.
"He bounced so high," Jenkins told investigators, according to the affidavit. "Defendant stated that he quickly crawled over the bed and picked up [the victim] from the floor. He then demonstrated placing the SUIDI doll on the bed and shaking the chest area, explaining this was how he attempted to determine if [the victim] was still alive."
Medics and police were called to the apartment after receiving a report about the child being unconscious and not breathing. When they arrived, the boy "had no pulse, was not breathing, and had pink fluid coming from his mouth," per the affidavit.
At first, Jenkins allegedly claimed he found his son unconscious in bed after he went to check on him while he was sleeping. The two of them were alone in the apartment while the child's mother was in another apartment nearby with her mother, according to police. She allegedly told investigators that she was the one who called 911 after Jenkins ran over and told her their son was not breathing.
"When asked to estimate the amount of time that elapsed between picking [the victim] up from the floor, placing him on the bed, and calling 911, defendant replied that he estimated approximately 15 minutes," the affidavit states. "During the timeframe in which the fatal injuries are believed to have occurred, the infant was solely in the care of the defendant."
Jenkins later changed his story to say he dropped his son by accident before admitting he spiked the boy on the bed while he was crying, per the affidavit. An autopsy determined that the child died from blunt force trauma to his head.
The witness who spoke to police about hearing Jenkins tell his son to "shut the f— up" is a neighbor who said she had heard him yelling at the boy before, according to the affidavit. "Additionally, the witness recalled a past incident in which she observed the defendant pushing the baby in a stroller. When the infant began to cry, she saw the defendant lift [the victim] with one arm and pull him out of the stroller."
Jenkins was arrested Saturday and booked into the Harris County Jail. He is being held without bond.
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