Inset: Robert Jenkins Jr. (Altoona Police Dept.). Background: The area in Pennsylvania where Jenkins lived when his newborn son was reportedly killed (Google Maps).
In Pennsylvania, authorities have detained a 34-year-old father, nearly three years after he allegedly caused the death of his newborn son by administering a lethal mix of alcohol and methamphetamine.
On Monday, Robert Jenkins Jr. was apprehended and faced multiple serious charges, including three counts of aggravated assault on a child and one charge of endangering the welfare of children related to his son’s fatality, according to court documents reviewed by Law&Crime.
The Altoona Police Department issued a news release detailing the September 5, 2022 incident, where officers responded to a report of an 8-week-old infant in cardiac arrest at a residence in the 1400 block of 3rd Avenue. Upon arrival, first responders discovered the infant had passed away.
Jenkins, the father of the infant, reportedly told officials that he had placed the baby next to him on a small pillow on the sofa, where the child fell asleep. Jenkins then claimed he also nodded off and awoke about an hour later to find his son “blue in color and unresponsive,” prompting him to call 911.
“Initial examinations and an autopsy cited SIDS (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome) as the cause of death,” the police noted in the release. “However, upon receiving toxicology results months later, it was determined that the infant had a BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) of 0.149% coupled with methamphetamine in his system, leading to his death being ascribed to alcohol intoxication.”
The subsequent investigation also turned up evidence of drugs being used in the home, Johnstown NBC affiliate WJAC reported. Such evidence included a “residue” that resembled blood on the portion of the couch where the newborn was allegedly sleeping.
When questioned about the circumstances of his son’s death, Jenkins reportedly said he did not use any drugs or put any alcohol in the baby’s bottle. Instead, he accused the child’s mother — who was under a “no contact” court order at the time — of “breaking into the residence” and feeding their son the alcohol.
Police said they later confirmed that the mother was not near the home on the night of the incident, per the Altoona Mirror.
The Mirror also reported that earlier in the evening, Jenkins sent a Facebook message to another individual that read, “Yo bro you got any up?” Investigators said this was a common way of referring to methamphetamine.
In a follow-up interview, Jenkins reportedly claimed that his sister touched his son while she had drug residue on her hands, though it was later revealed that she had been drug-free and sober for several years.
Following a nearly three-year investigation into the circumstances of the boy’s death that included statements from several witnesses, detectives determined that Jenkins was “the sole adult present at the residence at the time of the incident and the only individual that could’ve administered the fatal dose of alcohol,” police said.
Jenkins is currently being held in the Blair County Prison on $100,000 bond. He is scheduled to appear in court for a preliminary hearing on Aug. 27.
