FREEPORT, Ill. (AP) — A northwestern Illinois father and his girlfriend were charged in connection with the fatal beating of his 9-year-old son, authorities said Tuesday.
Robert Davidson, 32, and Antoinette Fane, 35, of Rockford, were arrested, issued bonds and jailed, The (Freeport) Journal-Standard reported. Davidson was charged with murder, battery, endangering the life of a child and obstruction of justice, and Fane with endangering the life of a child and obstruction.
It wasn’t immediately clear if they had attorneys.
An autopsy determined Robert De’Yahre Davidson died in July 2018 of multiple blunt-force injuries and cardiac arrhythmia due to dehydration. His injuries included welts and bruises to his thighs, back, shoulders and arms, investigators said.
The boy lived in Forest Park and was visiting his father in Freeport when he died. Police called to their home said Davidson and Fane denied any wrongdoing, showed officers two other, unharmed children, and refused to allow them into their home.
Officers returned after receiving a report of a child not breathing and found him unresponsive. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Freeport Police Lt. Andy Schroeder said the case took 18 months because investigators “didn’t want to bring a case hastily into court without having clear answers to all of the questions.”
