by Allison Brown, Fox 8 Reporter
COSHOCTON, Ohio — A Coshocton family is in mourning after the death of an 8-week-old baby.
Based on Raven Lafferty’s autopsy results, the Summit County medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide.
Raven’s father, Corey Lafferty, 23, was being held on a felonious assault charge in Coshocton County after the incident on Wednesday night.
Police were called out to Lafferty’s home on Glenview Way, where his girlfriend, Rachel Santos, says he was watching their son while she was at work. A neighbor called her, saying Lafferty took the child next door, ‘unresponsive and blue.’
“His dad didn’t even want to go up to the hospital, and that’s a huge sign, I mean, why wouldn’t you want to be there with your son?” said Rachel Santos.
“And he kept saying he fell out of his swing, he fell out of his swing, but I knew he didn’t,” she sobbed.
“I didn’t want to think he could do anything like that, I just kept thinking it was a huge accident, a huge accident,” said Santos.
The boy’s mother tells Fox 8 that little Raven was taken to Coshocton County Hospital first, but then had to be transported to Akron Children’s Hospital.
“They said he has no chance of living, his brain was so hemorrhaged, and he had bruising on his face,” said Santos. “The nurse was like, if you try to save him he’s never going to be able to walk, he won’t talk, he won’t be able to eat or progress like other children, I didn’t want to do that to him,” said the mom.
Because of Raven’s injuries, Santos says she was forced to do the unthinkable: decide to let her little boy go.
Raven passed away just after 11:00 p.m., Friday.
“It was hard but I knew, he just had the smell of death on him already and just breathing on me, he was already at heaven’s gates and he just needed a push through,” said Santos.
Police are still investigating the case.
Santos tells Fox 8 she is hoping to learn more details about what exactly happened so she can hopefully have some sort of closure.
“I know he’s up in Heaven,” said Santos.
