A 27-year-old father suspected of fatally beating his 2-month-old son to death four years ago on Merritt Island was taken into custody after a Brevard County sheriff’s task force carried out an arrest warrant in Volusia County.
Donovan Winter, of Deland, was arrested June 17 and charged with murder and aggravated child abuse, records show. He was booked into the Brevard County Jail Complex on a no bond status and will go before a judge June 18.
“After an extremely thorough investigation by our homicide unit, it was determined that Winter, who is the father of the decedent, was responsible for causing the injuries that led to the child’s death,” Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey said in a statement posted to Facebook.
The arrest came with the assistance of U.S. Marshals and members of the Brevard County GAMEOVER Task Force, Ivey said.
On June 1, 2021, Brevard County sheriff’s investigators were called to a Palmetto Avenue home after a woman called to report that her baby was unresponsive. Deputies found the baby boy had already died, prompting a death investigation.
An autopsy report that year showed that the boy had multiple head injuries, the agency noted.
Homicide agents determined that Winter, who later divorced the mother following the death, was responsible for the fatal injuries.
No trial date has been set.
J.D. Gallop is a criminal justice/breaking news reporter at FLORIDA TODAY. Contact Gallop at 321-917-4641 or jgallop@floridatoday.com. X, formerly known as Twitter: @JDGallop.
This article originally appeared on Florida Today: Volusia County man faces murder charge in 2021 death of infant son at Merritt Island home
Reporting by J.D. Gallop, Florida Today / Florida Today
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
