WALL A township man already in prison for violently abusing his toddler son has been indicted for the murder of his newborn daughter two years ago, according to Monmouth County Prosecutor Chris Gramiccioni.
Austin Meli, 24, was indicted by a Monmouth County Grand Jury on Friday for murder and endangering the welfare of a child in the death of his six-week old baby girl, Gramiccioni said.
The newborn was found unresponsive by Wall Township Police in March 2019, and was pronounced dead the same day at Ocean Medical Center in Brick.
Secret recordings made by the baby s mother had Meli talking about suffocating the newborn for a while, then trying to feed her a bottle, and when she vomited, he suffocated her again until she lost consciousness, as reported by the Asbury Park Press citing a court hearing in 2020.
Father indicted in killing of his 6-week-old daughter, prosecutor says
Updated May 07, 2021;
Austin Meli, 23 was charged with murder and endangering the welfare of a child, according to a statement from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office.
Wall police responded to a home on March 9, 2019 for a reported unresponsive infant, and found the infant, identified only as G.B, who died a short time later at a hospital in Brick, the office said. Investigators said they learned Meli was caring for his daughter at the time.
An investigation revealed more details surrounding the incident and detectives determined the manner of the baby’s death to be a homicide, officials said.
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A Monmouth County grand jury on Friday returned an indictment against a 23-year-old Wall man, already imprisoned for abusing his young son, in the death of his 6-week-old daughter in 2019, authorities said.
The indictment charges Austin Meli with murder and endangering the welfare of a child, Monmouth County Prosecutor Christopher J. Gramiccioni said in a news release. Court documents allege Meli suffocated the girl to death in a fit of anger.
Meli s infant daughter, identified as G.B. in court documents, died March 9, 2019, after she went unresponsive while in the care of her father, according to the news release.
The defendant's alleged trail of abuse was caught on video and in a secretly recorded confession obtained by the dead child's mother, official records show. The post Father Indicted in Death of 6-Week-Old Daughter After Baby’s Mother Records His Telephone Confession first appeared on Law & Crime.
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