Lakeland man charged with murder in death of his girlfriend's 23-month-old toddler: Police

LAKELAND, Fla. - A man was arrested in Lakeland on Friday and charged with first-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend's 23-month-old child, according to police. 

Bobby Curry Jr., 20, was arrested after police said a toddler he was babysitting suffered blunt-force trauma on March 5 and died three days later at Tampa General Hospital.

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Lakeland Police Chief Sammy Taylor said on Monday that Bobby lived at a home on Kansas Avenue with the toddler, Ezekiel Cotto Saint Fleur's, mother. 

Curry told police that he had been bathing the boy because he had urinated in his bed when the couple's puppy jumped up on the boy, causing him to fall back and hit his head on the tub. 

After the boy began showing signs of distress, Curry messaged the boy's mother, who was at work, on Instagram. Chief Taylor said the two exchanged 67 messages on Instagram over nearly two and a half hours before he eventually called 911. 

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Police said Curry's account of how the child was injured was not consistent with the severity of the injuries or the medical professionals' findings. Professionals at TGH found that Ezekiel's injuries suggested physical abuse, according to LPD.  

Chief Sammy Talor holds a picture of Bobby Curry Jr. 

After the cause of death was revealed to be blunt-force trauma, police obtained a warrant for Curry's arrest, and they charged him with first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse on Friday.

"I believe that he was frustrated, and he either used something or pushed the child, did something to the child to cause injuries to the front [or] top portion, to the extent that he had some fatal injuries to the top of his head," Taylor said. "Whether he used an instrument or took his face and pushed it into something, we just don't know."

On Monday, Taylor expressed his disdain for the amount of time Curry took to call 911. 

"There's absolutely no reason. I get that he's probably overwhelmed; there's at least two puppies in the house, he's only 20 years old; I get all that," Taylor said. But common sense will tell you, and just being a human being will tell you, if another human is in distress, you pick the phone up."

"There's no reason for a child to be hurt under the care of an adult. I just can't wrap my head around it," said neighbor, Shirley Pickett. "Children are my heart. In fact, that's what I do at my church. I do children's ministry and I had no clue a child was being abused in this neighborhood." 

Chief Taylor said the department has had a tough two calls as of late with a three-year-old being shot and killed in Lakeland earlier this month. 

READ: Lakeland family grieving after 3-year-old shot, killed inside car outside apartment complex

"It's tough on these guys and gals who do it. We ask these men and women to do things that normal human beings don't do and see things that normal human beings don't see," he said. "We're making sure that we're constantly monitoring them." 

He added that police are still looking into any responsibility on the mother's part but said she's being cooperative with police.