Missouri – A Missouri man has been arrested and charged with first‑degree endangering the weIfare of a chiId resuIting in death in connection with the fataI injuries of his 2-month-old baby, Marteo. According to Missouri authorities, the charges were filed on earlier this week, following a homicide determination in the case.
Missouri authorities responded to Children’s Hospital in Oct. last year after doctors alerted them that a two‑month‑old chiId had been brought in with life‑threatening injuries. Officers were told the child had suffered a brain bIeed with a midline shift, muItiple rib fractures, and a possible internaI decapitation due to severe separation of cervicaI spinaI discs.
The baby passed away at the hospital, less than two weeks after being admitted. The death was initially ruled suspicious, pending the results of an autopsy. On June 10, 2025, after receiving the forensic medical examiner’s report, Missouri authorities formally ruled it a homicide and transferred the case to the Prosecutor’s Office for charging decisions.
During the investigation, police questioned the parent, 21-year-old A. Holton, about the events preceding the baby’s injuries. Court documents state that the man told detectives he had gone into another room in the home during the night to change the baby while the mother was using the restroom. The mother, who was in an adjacent room, reported hearing the man asking the baby ‘why is he always crying’ and then heard a loud patting noise followed by the defendant calling to her.
When the mother entered the room, she found the infant gasping for air and urged the man to call 911. She told detectives that although the man had not previously been abusive, he had become increasingly more violent and often frustrated when caring for the child.
The defendant told police that he and the child’s mother were lntimate the night the child started crying in his bassinet next to the bed, the statement says. He said the 2-month-old child’s onesie kept getting caught on his head while he was trying to remove it, which caused the child’s head to jerk backward, according to police.
The defendant’s account of what happened changed multiple times. At one point he claimed that during the diaper change, the infant’s onesie got caught on his head, and when he removed it, the baby’s head jerked backward. He said the baby then spit up, leading the man to pick him up and pat his back. He later admitted the patting was pretty aggressive. On another occasion, he said he attempted to administer CPR the adult way after the baby began choking and acknowledged ‘that he might have used a little more force than he should have.’
The probable cause statement says the defendant did not believe he was being too rough, alleging that the 2-month-old child spit up moments later, which prompted the defendant to grab him by the neck and pat him on the back, according to police. When the defendant did not get the result he wanted, he said he began to pat the child on the back in a pretty aggressive manner until spit up came out of the child’s mouth. The defendant then noticed the child was gasping for air and called for the mother to come into the room.
Following the ruling of homicide and the filing of charges, a warrant was issued for his arrest. Prosecutors have requested that he be held without bond once taken into custody. The 21-year-old man was already in custody for a separate second‑degree r-pe charge and has a court appearance scheduled in September concerning that matter.