Man arrested in infant’s death blames boy’s sister
A man accused in the death of a 4-month-old boy, who died of head trauma, told investigators a 2-year-old girl caused the injuries by standing on the boy’s back.
Shortly after 11 a.m. Friday, police responded to Deaconess Hospital on reports of a child not breathing.
At the hospital, investigators met with Antonio Goodwin, 31, who said he was Ryan Keesee’s stepfather.
Goodwin, who said he had been dating Ryan’s mother for about five months, said he heard the boy crying in a bedroom and walked in to see the boy’s sister standing on Ryan’s back in a play pen.
He said he took the girl off Ryan’s back and later noticed “discoloration of the child’s skin” and said the boy was whimpering, according to a court affidavit.
A CT scan of the boy’s head revealed “bleeding on his brain” and he was taken to The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 2:20 p.m.
A doctor told investigators that Ryan had suffered “significant head injuries,” including fractures to his skull and that the injuries were “consistent with non-accidental trauma” and symptoms from the trauma would have been noticeable within minutes.
Goodwin and the boy’s mother, Kaitlin Keesee, 20, were taken to Oklahoma City police headquarters, where they told investigators Ryan had been with them in their bedroom about 3:30 to 4 a.m. and there was no indication of medical issues. The mother told investigators that she saw Goodwin with a bottle of formula for Ryan before she left for work.
Goodwin said he stayed with Ryan until about 8 a.m., when he put the child in a play pen before going back to his room to sleep.
He said he woke up about 9:30 a.m., when he heard Ryan crying. Goodwin repeated the story about the girl standing on the boy’s back.
“Throughout the interview Goodwin did not offer any explanation for how ... (Ryan) sustained a head injury,” an Oklahoma City officer wrote in the affidavit.
An examination of the body by the state medical examiner’s office indicated there were “no marks or visible injuries” on Ryan’s back, which would have been visible if the girl had injured him, according to the affidavit.
Goodwin was arrested on a murder complaint and is being held without bail at the Oklahoma County jail.
Kaitlin Keesee, Ryan’s mother, said she does not believe the story Goodwin told her and officers Friday.
She said she was working in a warehouse while her children were at her apartment with Goodwin.
“I want to know what happened. Tell me what happened so I can have peace so I can sleep at night and I can get this off of my heart,” Kaitlin Keesee said. “I want honesty.”
She said she does not believe her daughter caused the injuries.
She said her son was “a good baby” who wanted lots of love and attention and bottles.
“He was robbed of a very bright future,” she said. “Ryan did not deserve what happened.”
A fundraiser for funeral and medical expenses is scheduled from 1 to 5 p.m. Sunday at Will Rogers Park, NW 36 and N Portland Avenue.
For more information, call 438-4309.