A 27-year-old West Virginia father, Zachary Williams, was arrested after admitting to accidentally killing his infant son “out of frustration” when the child wouldn’t stop crying. According to police reports, Williams confessed to throwing the baby into a bed frame, causing a fatal skull fracture.
The incident occurred in Jane Lew, about 100 miles northeast of Charleston, after the child’s mother, struggling with the fussy infant, woke Williams for help. Authorities responded to a call about an unresponsive baby around 9 a.m. on May 25. Paramedics were performing CPR when troopers arrived, but the child was pronounced dead at the hospital within an hour.
An affidavit obtained by Law and Crime revealed that the infant had been suffering from a cold but was otherwise healthy, according to the grandparents who lived with the family. The mother told investigators the baby had been crying due to the cold, so she handed him to Williams and left the room briefly. Moments later, she returned to find the child limp and barely breathing.
After calling 911, she followed a dispatcher’s instructions to place the baby on his side, but he stopped breathing entirely. She performed CPR until emergency responders arrived. Initially, Williams claimed he had only been rocking the baby when the child suddenly “went rigid and then limp.” However, an autopsy revealed the infant died from a severe skull fracture at the back of his head.
Police later confronted Williams with the findings, at which point he confessed. “In a recorded interview, Mr. Williams did confess to throwing the juvenile out of frustration, causing the juvenile to strike his head on a bed frame and the floor,” the affidavit stated. “Mr. Williams also stated that it was all his fault.”
Williams is now being held without bond at Central Regional Jail. The tragic case highlights the dangers of shaken baby syndrome and loss of control. In 2022, an estimated 558,899 children in the U.S. were victims of abuse or neglect—about 8 per 1,000 children, according to the National Children’s Alliance.
The UK’s NSPCC warns parents: “You must never shake your baby as this can cause a brain injury. That’s why it’s so important to put your baby down somewhere safe and walk away if you start to feel angry or frustrated.” They urge struggling parents to seek help from health professionals or family members.