Babysitter Fatally Beat 2-Year-Old Boy, Critically Injured Sister: Police

A Utah man is facing murder and abuse charges after he fatally beat a 2-year-old boy and hospitalized the child's twin sister while babysitting last week, according to local police.

Jonathan Dunn, a 36-year-old friend of the twins' parents who had previously been convicted of child abuse, confessed to the crimes, according to an online statement by the Roy City Police Department (RCPD) and court documents.

Dunn, who the family considered an "uncle" to the toddlers, was arrested on December 21 and is facing charges of two counts of aggravated sexual abuse, two counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of aggravated murder, according to RCPD.

He was released from prison in 2019 after serving two years for breaking the arm of a child in his care in 2016, the Associated Press reported.

Newsweek reached out via email on Sunday to RCPD for comment and an update on the case. Court records did not list an attorney for Dunn who could speak on his behalf at the time of publication.

Shortly before 10 a.m. on December 21, Roy police received a call about an unresponsive 2-year-old boy at a home on South Street in Roy, Utah, RCPD said. Upon arriving at the scene, officers found the little boy lying on the front porch "with several visible injuries to his face and body." Inside the home, police discovered the boy's twin sister with bruises on her face.

The twins were transported to a nearby hospital where the boy died from his injuries "consistent with physical abuse," RCPD said. The twin sister remains hospitalized with a brain bleed, according to the statement.

"It was determined the injuries to both victims were a result of physical abuse; a forensic exam also showed evidence of sexual abuse," RCPD said.

During police questioning, Dunn told detectives that the night before he was "playing a game" with twins when he began to punch both toddlers "repeatedly in the back and sides and chest," according to the affidavit obtained by local station KUTV.

Dunn admitted to police that "he was hitting them harder than he should have," the court documents state.

The suspect then told detectives that he picked up the children and began throwing them on the bed while they were crying and said that he had pinched the genitals of both children, according to the court documents.

Dunn also confessed to police that he had pushed both twins into a door frame, according to court documents, which state that a toy and rubber mallet were also used as weapons to beat the children.

After the alleged abuse, Dunn told police that he gave both twins Tylenol, in addition to cough medicine for the boy and children's sleep aid for the girl, the court documents state.

Around 7:30 a.m. Thursday morning, the boy was wheezing, so Dunn said he gave the 2-year-old more cough medicine. Sometime before 9 a.m., the boy stopped breathing prompting the suspect to call 911, according to the court documents.

RCPD said multiple other children "unrelated" to the twins were in Dunn's home, but it's unknown at the time of publication whether any other children were harmed.

Dunn is being held without bail at the Weber County Jail and is scheduled to make an initial court appearance on Tuesday, online records show.