Boyfriend Indicted in Baby's Death

     Oct. 6, 2021 – A live-in boyfriend left in charge of his girlfriend’s 17-month-old son last summer was indicted on murder charges Tuesday after the child died of severe head injuries, said Shelby County Dist. Atty. Gen. Amy Weirich.

    A grand jury indicted Calvin Henry on counts of felony murder in the perpetration of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect. He is being held on $100,000 bond.

    Investigators said the incident occurred on July 7, 2020, at the Peppertree Apartments in Whitehaven where Henry was babysitting Douglas Mims while the boy’s mother was at work.

   They said Henry later texted the mother to tell her the child had fallen down the stairs and that he has “a knot on his head” that was bad. The small boy was taken to the hospital where doctors said he had severe head injuries, and bruises and burns to his face and back.

    Doctors said the injuries were not consistent with falling down stairs.

   The boy died at the hospital three days later.

    The case is being handled by Chief Prosecutor Eric Christensen and Asst. Dist. Atty. Gavin Smith of the District Attorney’s Special Victims Unit which handles cases of rape, child sexual abuse, severe physical abuse of child victims, elder abuse, and vulnerable adult abuse.