Taylor man, 29, charged in baby suffocation case
Investigators think blankets were used to muffle her sounds.
A Taylor man has been charged in the suffocation death of his 10-week-old stepdaughter, according to an arrest affidavit.
Kerry Pachicano, 29, was charged with injury to a child, a second-degree felony punishable by up to 20 years in prison.
Pachicano placed the infant in an unsafe location to sleep, covering her head and face and “causing the child to suffocate, resulting in the death of the child,” the affidavit said.
It said police were notified July 27 about an unresponsive child at 401 E. Third St. in Taylor. Paramedics arrived and found the girl had died, according to the affidavit. Investigators found out, according to the document, that the baby slept in a playpen in a bedroom where two adults and two other children also slept.
Pachicano told police he was the baby’s caretaker, the affidavit said. He said he took his wife, who was the baby’s mother, to work at 3:30 a.m. July 27 and returned home to give the 10-week-old some formula at 4:30 a.m., it said.
It said he then put the infant in the playpen, covered her body with two blankets and then laid down in his bed next to the playpen to sleep because he had a job interview later in the day.
He said he sent a text to his wife telling her the baby was still awake, the affidavit said. Pachicano told police, according to the affidavit, that the baby rolled over on her stomach and began making noises at 6 a.m. He sent his wife a text message about it but did not move the baby or place her on her back, the affidavit said.
Pachicano told investigators he woke up at 9 a.m. and made breakfast. He said he sent the other children into the bedroom to wake up the baby, “which is when she was found unresponsive,” according to the affidavit.
It said the two children later told investigators they found the baby covered with blankets from head to toe and lying face down in the center of a crescent-shaped pillow.
“Based on the age of the infant, it is not plausible to believe that she was able to completely cover herself and the pillow with blankets herself,” the affidavit said.
It said investigators think the infant was placed face down in the center of the pillow and the two blankets were used to cover her “in an attempt to muffle the sounds she was making.” “This led to the suffocation of the infant, which resulted in her death,” the affidavit said.
Pachicano, who was arrested Thursday, was being held in the Williamson County Jail on Friday with bail set at $250,000.