A Donley County man is facing a capital murder charge tonight in the death of his 4 1/2-year-old son.
Robert Monroe Babcock, age 38, will be arraigned tomorrow for the crime, which occurred yesterday morning.
Sheriff Butch Blackburn said his office received a 911 call from Babcock Tuesday at 9:40 a.m. reporting that his son was unresponsive.
When emergency personnel and law enforcement arrived at the residence southeast of Clarendon, they found Chance Mark Jones on the floor in a bedroom, Blackburn said.
“It was obvious that he was unresponsive and evident that he had been assaulted,” the sheriff said. “He had trauma to his head and torso.”
The child was transported to Northwest Texas Hospital via LifeStar, and Babcock was taken in for an interview and held on a family violence charge.
Jones died at 6:42 a.m. this morning, and a capital murder warrant was obtained for Babcock. He was formally charged this evening.
Blackburn said Babcock has no criminal history to speak of, and he also said Babcock had only had custody of the boy through a CPS intervention for about the last month.
“This young, defenseless child suffered a horrific death and our thoughts and prayers are with the family and friends of Chance.” 100th Judicial District Attorney Luke Inman said in a statement released by the Department of Public Safety.
If convicted of capital murder, Babcock could face the death penalty.
The Texas Rangers are assisting with the investigation.
Terrible….so sad….for everyone…unfair….God help us all.
Back in 1995 a friend of mine and I were traveling back from Amarillo from having a great time at a Dwight Yoakam concert. We came upon a vehicle that had rolled several times out into a field all we could see was the dim headlights off in the field. we stop and check it out and call 911. come to find out a young man was Robert Babcock and had to be rushed to amarillo hospital where he was in ICU for days…his family was kind enough to let us come visit to make sure he was doing better. I now live in another state and after recieving a phone call last nite that he had murdered his 4 year old little boy i was sickened and feel that he should be thankful someone saved his life and he was able to bring this little part of him into the world to love and be thankful for . Robert you are a sick man and should be punished like you punished your inocent little boy. You should feel every ounce of pain that little boy felt as you beat the life out of him, you shouldnt even be given the right to live a day longer people like you should be taken like you took that little boy. I could go on but im not going to .
I totally agree with Sherri G. He should be beat senseless with a bat.
im sorry readers it was 1993 not 1995 that we found him wrecked on the roadside…
It saddens me that something like this could happen to a child, or anyone for that matter. Not one person deserves to be hit for any reason. I feel that situations like this could be better avoided if laws were changed on punishment. I come from a State where spanking your child is considered child abuse, as we know there are other forms of discipline or punishment than hitting. When I moved to Texas, I was making sure I signed on my kids school registration that corporal punishment was not allowed on my kids. Every person in the office looked at me like I was crazy. Well, I think hitting a child is crazy. Time to take a look at your laws Texas. It is sad when people here tell me they applaud a person for spanking their child with a belt or ‘switch’. Hitting or no hitting, children can be great if you just love them. That is all they want is love. Not anger.