Stepfather of critically injured 7mo-old boy charged w/ Attempted Murder (FL)

Texas Mist · #1 03-09-2010, 12:45 AM

LAKELAND, FL -- Orlando Police have arrested the stepfather of a critically injured infant.

Lakeland Police said earlier that they were investigating the stepfather of 7-month-old Mark Ward after the infant was critically injured.

The boy reportedly suffered a cracked skull.

Rian Basarich, the boy's mother, says the 7-month-old was at his grandmother's home in Lakeland, being watched by his stepfather, 29-year-old Ryan Clarke, on Saturday.

"He says he dropped him on accident on the kitchen floor," said Basarich.

She also says the stepfather has never been violent.

When Basarich arrived at Tampa General Hospital, she was told her son's chances of survival were very grim. Officials at Tampa General also said the infants injures weren't consistent with those usually found in a fall.

"I found out that his skull had been bashed in and he's in a coma," said Basarich.

more here

http://www.abcactionnews.com/content...hjWZwwFzw.cspx

Prayers for baby Mark - and let justice prevail.

kbl8201 · #2 03-09-2010, 12:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Texas Mist

LAKELAND, FL -- Orlando Police have arrested the stepfather of a critically injured infant.

Lakeland Police said earlier that they were investigating the stepfather of 7-month-old Mark Ward after the infant was critically injured.

The boy reportedly suffered a cracked skull.

Rian Basarich, the boy's mother, says the 7-month-old was at his grandmother's home in Lakeland, being watched by his stepfather, 29-year-old Ryan Clarke, on Saturday.

"He says he dropped him on accident on the kitchen floor," said Basarich.

She also says the stepfather has never been violent.

When Basarich arrived at Tampa General Hospital, she was told her son's chances of survival were very grim. Officials at Tampa General also said the infants injures weren't consistent with those usually found in a fall.

"I found out that his skull had been bashed in and he's in a coma," said Basarich.

more here

http://www.abcactionnews.com/content...hjWZwwFzw.cspx

Prayers for baby Mark - and let justice prevail.

and of course mom sticks up for him.

Disguiseduser0308 · #3 03-09-2010, 01:12 AM

Look at that sweet face! How could anyone do something so cruel?

Miracles happen everyday and I hope Mark's will be the next. Praying for you, little guy!

May your abuser have to face everything the law can throw at him. I don't understand how the Mom could stand up for him but I don't understand hurting a baby so badly in the first place.

SunnieRN · #4 03-09-2010, 01:20 AM

What an adorable wee one!! Praying for a miracle!!

mitzi · #5 03-09-2010, 03:44 AM

So it happens again!

What an adorable little guy! How can someone want to hurt him?...I just want to pick him up and love him.

Not only does this POS hurt the baby, but then props him on Granny's bed and does NOTHING!...waiting for Granny to find him and take him to the hospital. He had better just hope and pray this little one survives this. I hope the mother won't stay with this piece of garbage, but we know what usually happens, don't we.

kbl8201 · #6 03-09-2010, 03:47 AM

she's already defending him so i wouldnt place bets on her leaving

Filly · #7 03-09-2010, 04:10 AM

Just askin, but........................

The baby is 7 months old and this is his step-father? So mom got legally married when?

Just wondering.

Texas Mist · #8 03-09-2010, 05:19 PM

Affidavit: 'Frustrated' stepdad hit baby's head against wall

LAKELAND - A stepfather charged with inflicting life-threatening injuries on his 7-month-old stepson told a witness that he hit the crying baby's head against a wall approximately four times "out of frustration," an arrest affidavit stated.

The baby is in critical condition at Tampa General Hospital with injuries that include a fractured skull, bleeding on the brain and a retinal detachment, the affidavit said.
...............................................
Clarke, 29, gave detectives conflicting versions of what happened, the affidavit released today said. But during a Monday phone call to a witness that was recorded by detectives, he said he hurt the baby out of frustration over the baby's crying,

the affidavit said. The name of the witness was blacked out but the document said Clarke was also upset about his relationship with the witness. He said he hit the baby's head against the wall "approximate four times," the affidavit said.

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2010/mar...ad/news-metro/

What a POS

to hurt this precious little boy

ella971 · #9 03-09-2010, 05:26 PM

What is going on with all of this violence towards infants and toddlers? Extra prayers for the little ones.

Vegas Bride · #10 03-09-2010, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ella971

What is going on with all of this violence towards infants and toddlers? Extra prayers for the little ones.

IMO there is more violence towards babies & young children.
There are more step-fathers, boyfriends etc who are taking care of these children. How many times do we read about a baby hurt or killed while in care of a man who is not the babies father, while the mother is at work?
A woman wants to think this new man will love her child just like their own and I believe that is such a huge mistake! It's also a huge mistake to use this man as a babysitter.
Also with families being more spread across the county you don't have the extended family helping out as much to help care for a child. When I was younger and living at home my mother, older sisters and myself all pitched in to do a lot of babysitting. I can tell you those babies were taken care of very well!! Sure there were times you had a baby cry, one in particular was a very very fussy baby. There was not 1 time he was abused! I can't even think of a time any of those babies had a bruise. Sure I can remember getting a bit frustrated and of course wishing he would stop crying, but you just kept trying different things to settle him down.

Now you take that same situation but have a new boyfriend or step-father alone with this baby and it's just such a bad mix IMO, he's already probably jealous of the attention he's getting from the mother and resenting him for that plus money being spent on him and now he has to listen to his loud cries?

I'm not excusing the man who beats/abuses a baby, I simply believe it's a very bad idea to turn them lose with the care for a baby.

VB

BeanE · #11 03-09-2010, 06:42 PM

I just can't stand it. All these precious little babies being hurt so horribly and killed.

Just look at this adorable little baby! How could anyone hurt him?

God help this little sweetheart Mark. Free him from pain and fear and confusion.

Texas Mist · #12 03-09-2010, 07:05 PM

This article says the baby-beater was mad at little Mark's mom

It wasn't until police recorded a conversation with Clarke and unidentified person that investigators believe they got their answer.

Police say Clarke admitted his frustration with the child's cries and his relationship with Basarich was too much, so he hit the baby's head against the wall about four times.

http://www.abcactionnews.com/content...J2JTMUEwQ.cspx

I thought that 'excuse' of relationship w/ the baby's mom sounded familiar -- and yep, we've heard it before from a baby-killer, Jacob Watson.

Jacob Watson Accused Of Killing 2-Month-Old Daughter because of relationship w/ wife - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community

I get the feeling that mom was there when he hit Mark against the wall....so why did g-mom find Mark laying by himself, wheezing & cold?

According to the paperwork filed for Clarke's warrant, Ward was at home recovering from bronchitis Saturday with Clarke when his grandmother discovered him wheezing and cold to the touch.

( ^^^ also from the abcactionnews link above)

ETA: more details on the monster & his lies

<snip>

According to a police report, Clarke's wife, Rian Basarich, asked her mother, Bridgit Ward, on Feb. 28 to care for the child while she tried to "straighten her life out." Ward was provided with a notarized statement giving her temporary custody of the baby, the report said.

Clarke drove to Ward's Lakeland apartment Saturday morning to care for his stepson while Ward went to work, police said.

Ward told police she arrived home about 8:35 p.m. and Clarke and the baby were in her bedroom. When she checked on the child, who had been diagnosed with bronchitis earlier in the week, the baby was wheezing and taking short breaths and was cold to the touch, according to the report.
...............................
According to the report, Clarke firsts denied knowing what was wrong with the baby. He said the child awoke screaming about 6 p.m. and that "his eyes were kind of funny." He said the pupils appeared enlarged.

After first telling officers he did not give the baby a bath and that just before the child awoke screaming he heard a thump that may have been the baby hitting his head on the wall, he then said he had given the baby a bath and the child fell back in the bathtub and hit his head, investigators said in the report.

The investigators said they told Clarke the injuries were too serious to have been suffered in that manner, and which time he told them he had dropped the baby in the kitchen and he hit his head.

But doctors told investigators the injuries were consistent with shaken-baby syndrome and could not have been caused by dropping the child, Smith said.

In a phone call Basarich placed to her husband at the request of the investigators, Clarke admitted to hitting the baby's head against the wall approximately four times, according to the report. He told his wife he did it out of frustration because the baby was crying and over their relationship, investigators said in the report.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/...,4681567.story

kbl8201 · #13 03-09-2010, 08:33 PM

so let me get this straight.........mom recorded a conversation in which he said he pounded her baby's head into the wall 4 times and yet she's still defending him?

Soulmagent · #14 03-09-2010, 09:02 PM

the article said she made the call at their request and is being called a witness. She was also calledl his wife. I do not think she is defending him. She is a witness for the state which she would have to choose testify.

kbl8201 · #15 03-09-2010, 09:04 PM

well she sure the heck looks like she's defending him in the original article

Soulmagent · #16 03-10-2010, 02:30 AM

My impression from the first article in post #1 was that she told the media what the stepdad had told her before she arrived at the hospital and she finds out after she got to the hospital that he lied to her.
She seems to be helping the police and she obtained a confession.
I wonder if she even knew he was babysitting at that time as she had ask her mother to care for him. She removed him from a troubled house to her mothers. WHY?

Texas Mist · #17 03-11-2010, 03:05 PM

Critically Injured Lakeland Baby Taken Off Life Support, Prosecutor Says
Published: Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 1:23 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, March 11, 2010 at 2:24 p.m.

BARTOW | A baby Lakeland police say was injured by his stepfather was taken off life support today and is expected to die, a prosecutor said in court.

...........
Charges against Ryan Joe Clarke, 29, of Orlando, will likely be upgraded if the baby dies, Assistant State Attorney John Aguero told County Judge Robert Williams Jr. during a hearing this afternoon.

Currently, Clarke faces charges of attempted felony murder and aggravated child abuse.

He is being held without bail at the Polk County Jail, where he was booked at 2:16 p.m. on Wednesday.
............................
He told police several stories, a report said.

First he said he gave Mark a bottle and put him to sleep, giving him another bottle at 11 a.m. when he awoke.

Mark stayed awake until about 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m., then fell asleep and woke up screaming about 6 p.m.

Clarke picked him up and tried to calm him, but he said Mark looked like he was in a lot of pain and his "eyes were kind of funny," the report said. Mark refused another bottle and went back to sleep about 7 p.m. He denied giving Mark a bath or doing anything to hurt him and said that immediately before Mark awoke screaming, he had heard a "thump." When Ward came home, Mark was breathing heavily and wheezing.

When Clarke was told about the extent of Mark's injuries, he admitted that Mark had hit his head while Clarke was giving him a bath. When he was told that Mark's injuries were more severe, Clarke said Mark had hit his head when he accidentally dropped him on the kitchen floor, the report said.

About 4:35 a.m. Sunday, detectives met with Dr. Tracy Chang at Tampa General Hospital and learned that Mark had severe edema, retinal detachment and that his brain had shifted from left to right. After surgery, he was still in critical condition.

http://www.theledger.com/article/201...100319917/1410

Tears for baby Mark.

kbl8201 · #18 03-11-2010, 03:10 PM

oh no

Lucy's mom · #19 03-11-2010, 05:43 PM

God bless little Mark's soul. This is so sad but at least he's not around monsters anymore. RIP little one.

SunnieRN · #20 03-11-2010, 07:50 PM

PPoor little one. I hope the monster who did this rots in jail until it is time for him to meet his maker!

BeanE · #21 03-11-2010, 08:26 PM

Oh dear God. Poor little sweetheart. I hope he's not in pain. I hope he's not aware of what happened to him.

BeanE · #22 03-11-2010, 08:28 PM

Oh he's gone. :-( This just tears me up. He was so cute.

Rest in peace, little Mark Ward.

http://www.theledger.com/article/201...100319917/1410

mom2six · #23 03-11-2010, 10:02 PM

This is just heart-breaking. Mark, you deserved so much more.

I think there is much relevant research coming out lately which should give all parents pause before engaging in new relationships when children, most especially infants, are involved. Both male and female bodies are designed during pregnancy, birth and postpartum to respond to each other as a triad unit, with a hormonal cocktail to cement nurturing bonds. When mom takes up with a new fella, this man has not been prepared biologically to become a homebound family man, occasionally with unreversibly devastating results.

Here's a really informative, though lengthy article. I think it is really well written to make these intricate hormonal interactions understandable.

Quote:

Nor are fathers left out of the oxytocin equation. It has been shown that a live-in father's oxytocin levels rise toward the end of his mate's pregnancy. When the father spends significant amounts of time in contact with his infant, oxytocin encourages him to become more involved in the ongoing care in a self-perpetuating cycle.

...

Released in response to nearness and touch, vasopressin promotes bonding between the father and the mother, helps the father recognize and bond to his baby, and makes him want to be part of the family, rather than alone. It has gained a reputation as the "monogamy hormone." Dr. Theresa Crenshaw, author of The Alchemy of Love and Lust, says, "Testosterone wants to prowl, vasopressin wants to stay home." She also describes vasopressin as tempering the man's sexual drive.

Vasopressin reinforces the father's testosterone-promoted protective inclination regarding his mate and child, but tempers his aggression, making him more reasonable and less extreme. By promoting more rational and less capricious thinking, this hormone induces a sensible paternal role, providing stability as well as vigilance.

...

Prolactin promotes caregiving behaviors and, over time, directs brain reorganization to favor these behaviors . Father's prolactin levels begin to elevate during mother's pregnancy, but most of the rise in the male occurs after many days of cohabitation with the infant.

kbl8201 · #24 03-11-2010, 10:11 PM

god speed mark.

may caylee and the rest in the romper room up there welcome you in.......

mitzi · #25 03-12-2010, 03:25 AM

I'm so sad for this precious little guy.