Father Accused Of Death Of His 8-month-old Daughter

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

A teenage father is behind bars in connection with the brutal beating of his 8-month-old daughter. Jayden Straight, 17, was charged with first-degree murder and endangering a minor after the death of his baby Raija Straight, Polk County attorney John Sarcone told PEOPLE.

The girl, who lived in Iowa, had multiple fractures to her skull, several broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and bleeding from her retina, according to a police affidavit obtained by PEOPLE.

A doctor allegedly informed detectives that the girl's injuries were the result of "a deliberate attack and could not be explained as involuntary or accidental."

"It breaks the soul of what this girl could potentially have gone through," Sergeant Paul Parizek of the Des Moines Police Department told PEOPLE. Parizek described the damage the girl suffered “as if an eight-month-old baby was thrown from the roof of a house. It was brutal."

Des Moines police were called to Mercy Medical Center at 4:25 pm on July 13 to investigate the case of an 8-month-old baby "with serious injuries inflicted." Police discovered that the girl had serious internal injuries and severe blows to the head.

The affidavit says Straight was the only person in charge of the baby when he took her to the hospital. "According to Jayden there were no other people near Raija that day and he cannot explain how Raija received these injuries," the document alleges.

"The injuries could only have been caused in this short period of time and the only person who was with the girl according to the medical team was Jayden Straight," Parizek alleges. Parizek adds that the young man left the hospital and turned himself in to the police.

The father has pleaded not guilty.