UPDATE @ 10:30 p.m. (Sept. 17)
The father of a 15-week-old boy found dead last week at St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter was granted a furlow from jail to attend his son’s funeral.
Patrick Wilkerson, 23, was able to attend his baby son’s funeral held today, according to the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Wilkerson, who was arrrested on unrelated charges, returned to the county jail at 1 p.m. He was granted a furlow on Friday by a Dayton Municipal Court judge, who ordered his case bound over to the county common pleas court. He is accused of assaulting a police officer in front of the shelter the morning his son was found dead, and remains held on $25,000 bond.
EARLIER (Sept. 9, 2016):
A 15-week-old boy, Jeremiah Hammond, was found dead at St. Vincent de Paul homeless shelter early Thursday morning where he was staying with his parents. The infant’s father, Patrick Wilkerson, 23, was arrested on unrelated charges. The infant’s twin is a patient at Dayton Children’s Hospital.
- Fifteen-week-old baby was found dead at homeless shelter
- Child's father was arrested for assaulting officer
- Charges have not been filed in the child's death
- The dead child had a twin sister, who is hospitalized
An autopsy of the baby who died at a Dayton homeless shelter revealed nothing suspicious, but additional testing will take four-to-six weeks to complete, the coroner’s office said Friday.
“From a forensic examination, we did not see anything that would indicate foul play,” said Ken Betz, director of the Montgomery County Regional Crime Laboratory.
Two family members of 15-week-old Jeremiah Hammond who did not wish to be identified told this news organization that the deceased baby was born prematurely and indicated he may have had medical issues.
Jeremiah was found dead Thursday at the St. Vincent de Paul shelter on Apple Street, where he was staying with his mother, Nakela McGhee.
“It’s tragic, and it gives us more of a sense of urgency that there should be no children, particularly babies, who are homeless,” said Tina Patterson, executive director of Homefull, a Dayton nonprofit that provides services for the homeless.
Jeremiah’s twin sister was hospitalized Thursday, but no other information was available Friday.
While the cause of Jeremiah’s death remains unclear, his passing drew attention to a troubling trend in Montgomery County: Black babies such as Jeremiah in the county are more likely to die before their first birthdays than infants in many other places nationwide, according to local and state data.
Nearly 13 of of every 1,000 black children born in the county died before their first birthday in 2014 — a mortality rate more than three times that of white babies, according to the Public Health — Dayton & Montgomery County.
The death remains under investigation, and the county coroner is coordinating with the Dayton Police Department, which had investigators present for the autopsy. But all indications were that Jeremiah was a “well-care-for child,” Betz said.
Specimens taken during the autopsy will undergo toxicology, histology and other examinations, which could take weeks to complete.
Dayton police have not requested a meeting with prosecutors about the case, according to Greg Flannagan, spokesman for the Montgomery County prosecutor’s office.
Last September, McGhee, who was pregnant, told police that she was violently assaulted by Jeremiah’s 23-year-old father, Patrick Wilkerson.
Wilkerson was arrested outside the homeless shelter Thursday for assaulting a police officer who tried to keep him separated from McGhee, according to police.
Homefull’s Patterson said her organization was working with the family to find housing. She said they entered the shelter Aug. 21 and had planned to leave Aug. 30.
“When they were still there past the date that they said they’d move in, we reached out and they said their housing had fallen through, so we were getting ready to work with them to find them housing,” Patterson said.
Attempts to contact McGhee were unsuccessful.
Rob Andrews, St. Vincent de Paul’s director of operations, said the shelter issued a statement Thursday and would not elaborate on the death.
“People in the community know our shelters well,” he said. “Our mission is to help individuals who need help, and when they come to us, we do the best we can.”
The nonprofit provides shelter, meals and professional assessment and counseling services to the homeless. On an average night in 2015, St. Vincent de Paul sheltered 70 homeless children, most under the age of 6.
Families at the shelter receive three meals, shower facilities, sleep accommodations and access to case management to help find housing that is appropriate to their needs, said Jessica Jenkins, assistant director of the Montgomery County Human Services Planning & Development Department.
In 2015, 475 families with 917 children were sheltered at the St. Vincent de Paul, Jenkins said.
Of the 917 children, 369 were under the age of 5, and 73 had not yet reached their first birthday, she said.
“As a part of the community’s safety net, St. Vincent de Paul provides a safe environment for people who are experiencing a housing crisis in our community,” Jenkins said.
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