A father in Pennsylvania, United States was arrested for raping and killing his 10-month-old daughter.
Austin Stevens, 29, was charged with involuntary deviant sexual intercourse, rape of a child, aggravated assault, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child, and other offenses, NBC Philadelphia reported.
His daughter, Zara Scruggs, was found unresponsive in his Lower Providence Township home on Saturday night. The infant was taken to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery and pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. Sunday, less than two hours after he called 911.
An autopsy on Sunday determined that Zara was sexually assaulted and suffered blunt force trauma to the head. The cause and manner of death is still pending.
Stevens, a youth football coach in the area, allegedly Googled “if baby stop breathing,” “what if you don’t hear baby heart or beat,” “my baby isn’t breathing” and “how do you know if a baby is dead” for nearly an hour before calling 911, investigators found.
However, he still didn’t call the hospital or emergency services for help. Police have seized his phone to further look at his activity at the time of the incident. It has been found that apart from searching on Google, the man was also talking to two women on social media where he didn’t mention the condition of his daughter.
The man had joint custody of the infant with her mother who has now vouched to make the father pay for the crime that claimed the 10-month-old's life.