A 31 year old Texas man, Anthony Michael Sanders was charged on Friday with capital murder for biting and smothering his two-year-old daughter in a ‘fit of rage’ after she interrupted his video-game playing on December 12, 2015.
According to an arrest warrant, Sanders had been caring for his two children all day beginning about 10 a.m. while his wife was out.
When his wife returned, about 8:30 p.m., Sanders was in the living room with their 5 year old son and he told his wife that their daughter was sleeping.
30 minutes after the mum arrived, their son tried to wake the toddler up but she wouldn’t wake up so he ran to tell his parents that his sister wouldn’t wake up, Sgt. Jason Babcock, a police spokesman. told the Star-Telegram.
Thinking that her daughter was just sleeping, the mother told him to let her rest. At 10pm, the father went to check on their daughter to make sure she was fine. That was when he found out she was not breathing and started shouting for his wife to call 911. Emergency services arrived almost immediately and rushed her to the hospital
“He has no idea what happened,†Babcock said Sanders told police. “He just went back there and she wasn’t breathing.â€
“Anthony, by his own admission, was the only adult that was in the residence during the time the injuries were inflicted upon his daughter which caused her death,†Detective B. McComis wrote in the affidavit.
‘Just a fit of rage-type deal, anger,’ Babcock told the Star-Telegram.
‘He’s very involved in computer gaming,’ he continued. ‘That’s something he did constantly. She may have interrupted him somehow. His day may have been interrupted.’
Court records show Sanders was charged in July 2011 with choking the girl’s mother, whom he later married. The case, however, was ‘no-billed’ in August 2011, records show.
After Ellie’s death, Child Protective Services took custody of her brother, now 6. He has been placed in the care of a relative, CPS spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales said Friday
Source: The Star-Telegram