EPD: Father charged in death of infant son

EVANSVILLE, Ind. (WFIE) - A local mother will soon be burying her youngest son after he was recently found unresponsive at a home on the city’s south east side. The boy’s father is now facing charges in the infant’s death.

“He was always happy,” mother Angelina Hailey reflected. “He loved watching TV with me all the time. He just wanted to be cuddled most of the time. He loved his brother.”

An apartment at the 1100 block of Covert Avenue in Evansville is the home where Angelina Hailey shared with her son and his father.

Hailey tells 14 News that she was at work Wednesday night when she was told to come home.

“And I got here, he was on the floor not breathing, not moving, nothing - I don’t understand,” Hailey recalled.

Investigators were called to the home for a medical emergency because 3-month-old Kendrick Caruthers was not breathing, and became cold and limp.

First responders couldn’t revive him.

“I don’t feel alive right now,” Hailey said. “I just wish it was a bad dream. I should’ve stayed home.”

The boy’s father, 23-year-old Rashid Caruthers, has since been arrested. He’s in the Vanderburgh County jail on no bond and faces a charge for neglect of a dependent causing death.

“I only seen him when I got here and he said ‘sorry,'” Hailey recalled.

EPD says Caruthers has been arrested in the past on unrelated charges. Records show he was charged in a domestic battery situation less than a year ago.

“But it is a complete shock - he loved him,” Hailey added. “I didn’t think he would do anything to him, or at least call for help if he had problems.”

The family says they are looking to start a fund to help pay for funeral expenses.

The investigation is ongoing, but Evansville Police says the father is the only person facing charges.

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