William A. Harris, 25, of Barnhart has been charged in connection with the death of a 3-year-old Barnhart girl.
The girl, Aubrey Harvey, was found dead at about 6:20 a.m. Monday (March 7) at her home in the 6600 block of Dry Creek Road in Barnhart, authorities reported.
The girl’s mother returned home from work and found her daughter dead, after leaving her in Harris’ care on March 6, said Lt. Gary Higginbotham of the Sheriff’s Office.
Harris, who had left the home, was identified as a person of interest in the case on Tuesday (March 8), and authorities found him at about 6:40 this morning (March 9) at a business in the 1500 block of Marriott Lane in Barnhart, the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office reported.
Since then, the Jefferson County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office has charged Harris with one count of abuse or neglect of a child resulting in death, a class A felony punishable by 10 to 30 years or life in prison.
He was being held today in the Jefferson County Jail on a $500,000 cash-only bond.
After Harris was taken into custody, he told investigators he was using heroin and Nyquil while babysitting Aubrey and a 1-year-old child who was found unhurt at the home and taken into protective custody, the probable-cause statement said.
Harris also said he was giving Aubrey a bath when he “became increasingly angry” because she was crying, the report said.
Harris said he “snapped” and forced the girl face-down under the water, and after the girl cried again, he bent her forward over the bath while he “forcefully” used “all his body weight” against her, according to the report.
He said that when he pulled the girl up from the tub, she had a “blank look on her face” and was “stumbling around.”
Harris said the girl then began to fall down some stairs but he caught her. However, he claimed the girl struck her head against either the wall or a banister during the near fall, the report said.
He said the girl’s breathing became labored and he attempted CPR but never called emergency personnel. Then, he abandoned the girl and left, according to the report.
After the mother returned home, emergency personnel were called to the scene and pronounced the girl dead, the report said.