SOUTH CHARLESTON, W.Va. — A man was taken into custody by South Charleston police Monday and charged with murder following the death of a 2-year-old boy.
SC Police Sgt. Joel Gray said investigators determined they had enough evidence to charge Jarrel Stricklen after an autopsy at the state Medical Examiner’s Office earlier in the day.
“Our officers were present to witness the autopsy and we gathered enough evidence there to make an arrest,” Gray said.
Stricklen, 23, was watching the toddler for his friend, the boy’s mother. A call made to Kanawha County Metro 911 Saturday night said the boy had drowned in the bathtub but officers said they were suspicious of that report once they arrived at the house at the corner of McClung and Chesapeake streets.
Police noticed that the child was bruised on his face and body, and that the body was unusually cold. Stricklen allegedly admitted to police that he placed the boy’s body in the freezer for several hours. The boy’s body was reportedly lying among feces and filth.
Sgt. Gray said the autopsy, which likely won’t have a final report for weeks, was the key in making the arrest Monday.
“That along with the evidence we collected at the house,” Gray said.
There’s still a matter of who knew what when. There were some reports the boy may have died sometime Friday.
“We’ve taken a lot of (cell) phones and we’ll go through those and actually determine what happened,” he said.
Gray said the tragic death of a child adds a certain level of difficulty to any investigation.
“(There are) feelings and people want to make sure the right thing is done. It adds a little anxiety to it,” he said.
The medical examiner who performed the autopsy listed physical assault and fetal asphyxia as the immediate cause of death. The report also said that hypothermia can’t be ruled out, but the findings were not consistent with drowning.
Stricklen had retained an attorney and was not talking with police as of Monday evening before his arraignment in Kanawha County Magistrate Court. The boy has a twin brother, but it’s unclear if he was home at the time of the alleged murder.
A preliminary hearing in the case is scheduled for June 9.