OKC police conclude 2021 death of baby a homicide
Mother’s boyfriend faces new murder complaint
Police have determined the 2021 death of a 7-month-old infant was a homicide.
On Sept. 12, 2021, at 1 p.m., officers were called to an apartment complex in the 1200 block of W Interstate 240 Service Road.
The child, Zailen Howell, was unresponsive when police arrived and was rushed to OU Children’s Hospital. He died five days later.
The Oklahoma State Medical Examiner’s Office recently ruled the death a homicide.
“We tally all of our homicide numbers at the end of every year, and it goes into our statistics,” said Sgt. Dillon Quirk with the Oklahoma City Police Department. “The medical examiner’s office took over the investigation … and they have to do extensive research through their investigation before they actually get it back to us as a homicide. That’s why we’re putting it out now.”
Michael Brown, who was the boyfriend of the child’s mother, will face a murder complaint in the baby’s death, according to police. Brown had already been booked into the Oklahoma County jail on unrelated charges in February.
Howell’s death was not the first from past years to be confirmed as a homicide in 2022. Police announced in February that 41-year-old Andrew Lee Ingram died of complications from shooting injuries he first suffered five years ago.
Ingram was shot on March 4, 2017, and died on December 5, 2020, but investigators did not deem his death a homicide until more than a year later.
Unlike Howell’s case, no arrests have been made in relation to Ingram, but his case remains open with the Oklahoma City Homicide Cold Case Unit. The department encourages anyone with information to contact the Homicide Tip Line 405-297-1200.