A Baltimore man was arrested and charged with murder and child abuse in the death of a 2-month-old girl, Baltimore police said Tuesday.
Darius Williams, 33, and the father of the baby, was charged with first-degree murder and second-degree child abuse after police said Zorii Pitts was found dead Saturday.
Police received a call from a family member shortly before 8:30 a.m., telling them the baby girl was “unresponsive,” police spokesman Vernon Davis said.
Zorii, who was born March 15, was found by police around 8:50 a.m.
After officers arrived at the first block of South Monastery Avenue, near the Allendale and Irvington neighborhoods of West Baltimore, medics “pronounced the victim dead,” police said in the release.
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“The victim’s body was transported to the Medical Examiner’s office where an autopsy was performed and the death was ruled a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head,” police wrote.
Detectives interviewed both Williams and the mother of the child. The mother told police that it was “routine” for Williams to care for Zorii and her other kids during the day and also care for the baby at night to give the mother a break, according to charging documents.
Williams told police that he gave Zorii her bottle while the mother was in the shower and he burped her and placed her in a bassinet. Zorii was placed on her back on the pillow. He told police that he was the last to hold Zorii and the other children were upstairs in their rooms, according to the documents.
When Williams was told about Zorii’s injuries, he denied “dropping the baby, abusing the baby, or hurting the baby,” according to charging documents.
Williams said when he woke up, he touched Zorii and she felt cold. Williams did not provide an explanation as to how Zorii received her injuries, according to charging documents.
Williams was taken to the Central Booking and Intake Facility and is being held without bond. An attorney for Williams was not listed in the state’s online court case database.
This article has been updated. An earlier version misstated Zorii Pitts’ age; she had turned 2 months old on Saturday. The Baltimore Sun regrets the error. Baltimore police also issued a correction to their initial releases, which misspelled the girl’s name.