Jason Rushbrook told police that he shook his girlfriend’s 4-month-old daughter to revive her after she had slipped in the bathtub.
But Thursday, police said that Rushbrook apparently shook the child so hard that the baby died.
Rushbrook, 21, of Wildwood, was charged with first-degree murder Thursday after an autopsy revealed that Kelley Jackson died from abuse, said Lake County Sheriff Clinton Grinnell.
The child’s injuries, which included severe brain hemorrhaging, were consistent with Shaken Baby Syndrome, the term doctors use for a variety of symptoms infants suffer when they are violently shaken.
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“There’s only one real way to inflict this type of an injury,” said Lake County State’s Atty. Michael Waller. “And that’s by shaking the child with a great deal of force.”
Kelley’s death marks the second time this month in Lake County that the boyfriend of a mother has been charged in the death of a child under the age of 2. Eric Stark, 16 months old, of Waukegan, was allegedly beaten to death Jan. 7. Gary Duncan, the 25-year-old boyfriend of the boy’s mother, has been charged in that death.
Kelley Jackson’s mother, Kimberly Jackson, 22, was not home when the child received the life-threatening injuries, and she has not been charged, authorities said.
“It’s our determination that she had no knowledge or involvement in what went on,” said Lake County Sheriff’s Police Lt. Chester Iwan.
Rushbrook was arrested at the Waukegan office of the sheriff’s police Thursday after he voluntarily went there for additional questioning.
In a previous interview, Rushbrook told police that he dropped Kelley while giving her a bath, and then shook the child to revive her, Grinnell said.
But Rushbrook changed his story during questioning Thursday evening, authorities said, although they declined to elaborate.
Jackson’s two other children, a 3-year-old daughter and an 18-month-old son, were placed in the temporary custody of Jackson’s mother pending an investigation by the state Department of Children and Family Services.
The agency has an open file on Jackson in connection with a Jan. 6 incident in which Jackson’s son required treatment at Condell Medical Center in Libertyville, Iwan said.
Jackson, a sales clerk at a gas station 1 1/2 blocks away from her home, said she was at work at the time her daughter was injured.
“I don’t even know what happened,” she said in an interview before Rushbrook’s arrest. “(But) she wasn’t beaten. She wasn’t hurt.”
Jackson could not be located for comment after the arrest.
The couple rented a small, one-story house on Park Avenue in Wildwood. Jackson moved in about a year ago and rarely socialized with others in the neighborhood, neighbors said.
She met Rushbrook about 10 weeks ago, and he moved in a week after that, Iwan said.
Rushbrook, who works at a Grayslake oil-change shop, has a previous burglary conviction, but no previous record for child abuse, Iwan said.
The alleged shaking occurred on Tuesday. Rushbrook was baby-sitting for Jackson’s three children while she worked.
Shortly before midnight, Rushbrook left the baby and the two other children, ran to the gas station and told Jackson something was wrong with Kelley, Iwan said. The child was unconscious when they returned home, and the couple then took the child to Condell Medical Center, arriving around midnight.
The baby began losing her vital signs Wednesday, and she was taken by ambulance to Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin near Milwaukee, Iwan said. She was pronounced dead at about 5 p.m. Wednesday.
Police in Lake County said they were alerted by the Wisconsin hospital staff about noon Wednesday that Kelley’s injuries appeared to have resulted from child abuse.
Investigators interviewed Jackson and Rushbrook Wednesday, but they didn’t file charges until after Thursday’s autopsy confirmed that the baby died from abuse, Iwan said.
Further tests are being conducted on the child’s body to determine the extent of her injuries, he said.
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