He’s Accused of Throwing a Crying Toddler to His Death with Family Nearby — and Then Saying Something Haunting

He allegedly said the child wouldn’t stop crying. Now, a West Virginia stepfather is charged with murder — accused of throwing his 1-year-old stepson so violently, the child’s skull fractured.

Zachary Williams, 27, is facing charges of first-degree murder and child abuse causing death after allegedly admitting to fatally injuring his stepson on May 25, according to WDTV, KGNS and WDBJ7. 

Emergency personnel responded to Williams’ West Virginia home for reports of a child who had stopped breathing, per the outlets. After they performed an hour of CPR on the 17-month-old, the child was pronounced dead. 

The child’s grandparents, who lived in the home, told police that nothing abnormal had happened to the child with the exception of a small cold, per the outlets. The child had sustained a small bruise above his eye crawling around the home, they said, and they did not suspect he was being abused.

But an autopsy on the child’s head revealed a skull fracture on the back of the boy’s head consistent with blunt force trauma, according to the local outlets. 

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At the hospital, police questioned the child’s parents about the sequence of events that day. Per court documents reviewed by WDTV, Williams initially told police that the child was fighting sleep more than usual, and that the child went “rigid and limp” while Williams was bouncing him. He then said he called for the child’s mother, who called 911 and attempted CPR.

But after the autopsy was completed, police questioned the stepfather a second time and allegedly got a different answer: Williams allegedly admitted to authorities that the child was “crying uncontrollably,” prompting him to throw him head-first into a bed frame, according to the documents. 

Police said Williams also stated that “it was all his fault,” per the documents reviewed by the outlet. 

Williams is currently being held without bond at Central Regional Jail, according to an online roster. A preliminary hearing is expected later this month, according to the outlets. 

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.