Father is charged with murder for ‘strangling his six-month-old daughter after he used a teddy bear to show cops how he choked her during an interview’
- Jeffrey Hoskins showed the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office how he strangled the baby girl in their Ripley home back in October 2018
- Hoskins was initially detained at the time and charged with child abuse but took off after posting bail
- Deputies share that the baby stayed on life support for 15 months because of legal challenges but died earlier in the week
- A grand jury granted a murder indictment for Hoskins on Thursday
A father in West Virginia who has been charged with murder for strangling his infant daughter, showed authorities how he committed the act using a teddy bear.
Jeffrey Hoskins showed the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office how he strangled the baby girl in their Ripley home during his court interview, WSAV reports.
The baby was only six months at the time of the October incident.
Jeffrey Hoskins even showed the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office how he strangled the baby girl in their Ripley home back in October 2018
‘The child had significant bruising under her chin, on her arms and legs,’ Chief Deputy Ross Mellinger said.
‘Upon finally speaking with Mr. Hoskins, Mr. Hoskins had confessed to the strangulation of the child in which she has died from those injuries.’
Hoskins was detained at the time and charged with child abuse. He took off after posting bail.
He initially told authorities that the baby choked while he was feeding her.
‘In a subsequent interview with the suspect, the child’s father Jeffrey Hoskins, he confessed to not only strangling the child but attempting on four previous occasions to smother the child,’ Mellinger explained to WV Metro News.
‘Through the medical testing at the hospital, along with the medical opinion of the doctors there, and combined with Mr. Hoskins confession itself, suggests that there were multiple occasions prior to this one here where the baby was smothered and/or assaulted by the same father.’
Deputies share that the baby stayed on life support for 15 months because of legal challenges. Hoskins was charged with her murder after she died earlier in the week
At the time of the incident, Hoskins was only charged with child abuse. He fled the area after posting bail for that charge
Deputies share that the baby stayed on life support for 15 months because of legal challenges. The baby did die earlier in the week.
A grand jury granted a murder indictment for Hoskins on Thursday.
Hoskins was found hiding in a home in Arnoldsburg, West Virginia, where he is from. At the time of the incident, he was living at the home with a woman identified as his wife on Facebook.
At the time of the incident, he was living at the home with a woman identified as his wife on Facebook. The woman is the mother of the man’s children
The woman is the mother of the man’s children. She is not facing charges at the time but authorities say further charges could be pending.
Other children at the home have since been removed.
Facebook profile’s for Hoskins and the children’s mother indicate that they had another child in May of last year, roughly 8 months after the incident with their other child.