WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah (ABC 4 News) – A man accused of murdering an infant was on the Internet trying to figure out what to tell police.
That’s what prosecutors claim Reed Wilcox was doing after a six month old infant in his care was declared brain dead.
The infant, Mocoy Velarde, died after being taken to the hospital.
Prosecutors say medical experts ruled out Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
“The baby was strong and he could move out of those kinds of situations,” says Salt Lake District Attorney Sim Gill.
According to charging documents Wilcox confessed. Detectives also claimed Wilcox admitted to researching the internet to learn more about “suffocation, baby suffocation, SIDS,” and “what to do when you are going to be interviewed by police detectives.”
“It’s sad because a child died,” says "Steve," who didn’t want his last name revealed. “I wish none of this happened.”
Steve owns the West Valley home in which Wilcox and his live in girlfriend rented a room from. She is Velarde’s biological mother.
The landlord recalled that day in May when all the trouble started in his home.
“The child was laying on the ground,” recalled Steve. “It looked like he was asleep. I talked with him for about five minutes and I went back upstairs.
But police say Mocoy was motionless on the bed and had to be taken to the hospital. That night, according to charging documents, the infant was declared brain dead.
Jerod Riches also rents a room and talked with Wilcox the day the baby was hurt.
“All he said was it seemed like it was Sudden Infant Death Syndrome,” says Riches. “It just seemed like all of a sudden the child stopped breathing.”
It took several months before Wilcox was charged with the baby’s murder and it has those in the West Valley home completely baffled.
“For this to happen, it just blew me away,” says the landlord. “Nobody saw it coming.”
