Roy man arrested for suffocating step-daughter

ROY, Utah (ABC 4 News) – A Roy man is being held in the Weber County Jail after police say he admitted to suffocating his step-daughter when she would not stop crying.

Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham says that a two-year-old girl was discovered by her mother Friday morning. Emergency responders where dispatched to the Roy apartment for an unresponsive child.

When detectives spoke with Robert G. Abbott, the child’s step father, he originally claimed he knew nothing about what happened.

Police say that Abbott was the caretaker that put the child to sleep sometime Thursday evening.

Another child in the home told detectives that Abbott frequently used aggressive methods with the victim when she would not stop crying.

Whinham says that Abbott confessed during questioning to using an aggressive method that ultimately suffocated the child. The exact method was not disclosed.

Whinham is expected to appear in court Monday on charges of child abuse homicide.