JUN 4, 2021
Caleb Whisnand led police to murdered 5-week-old son, told baby’s mother, ‘I’m sorry,’ detective says - al.com
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The case is being prosecuted by Montgomery County deputy district attorneys Scott Green and Ben McGough. Whisnand is represented by attorneys Mickey McDermott and Karen H. Jackson.
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Lawmen responded that night to the Circle K. Shepherd was among the many lawmen who responded to the scene, and noticed there was a infant seat base but no infant seat in the father’s white Ford Escort.
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The father told investigators he left his home with the baby the previous Saturday night and went to work on a friend’s car, and later another friend’s car on Sunday.
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The last time investigators saw C.J. alive on video was at 12:43 p.m. Monday at a Montgomery County Walmart.
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He didn’t initially tell investigators he had been to Lowndes County, but when confronted with his cell phone data, Whisnand said he had made a “drug run.”
They also had video of Whisnand withdrawing money from a bank to pay back money he owed to his brother.
At one point, he said he had left the baby with a friend. He also said the wife of another friend had watched the baby while he worked on their vehicle.
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In that video, he was wearing a green shirt and blue jeans. In a video later that day, after he returned from Lowndes County, investigators saw Whisnand putting gas in his vehicle at a Shell Station.
That video showed Whisnand throwing a Mickey Mouse pacifier and a child’s sock into the garbage can, as well as a green shirt the father had been seen wearing in the earlier video. At that point, Shepherd said, the father was wearing a red shirt.
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All of the items were recovered from the trash can. The infant seat and C.J.’s diaper bag have never been found.
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Investigators took Whisnand to another room at headquarters to let him nap. He slept about six hours, Shepherd said, and seemed more coherent when he awoke.
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At one point, the investigator said, Whisnand told them C.J. had been unresponsive when he left his brother’s house and he tried to do CPR. When he couldn’t revive him, he took his son’s body to Lowndes County.
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“This is an acute injury and the child died within minutes (of the injury),” Rydzewski testified.
The judge ruled there was enough probable cause to send the case to a grand jury for indictment consideration.
She also issued a gag order in the case, which was requested by Whisnand’s attorneys and opposed by prosecutors.
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