An Ohio man has been arrested and charged with murder after allegedly suffocating his crying four-month-old daughter with a pacifier to get her to sleep.
Opportunity Terrence Topp is preparing to go to court after being arrested in connection with the infant’s death in October 2023.
Topp, 28, is charged with aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, strangulation, reckless homicide, domestic violence, perjury and two counts of child endangerment.
The Licking County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release that deputies responded to a report of a dead infant at a residence around 7:32 p.m. on October 13, 2023. Upon arrival, paramedics located the infant and transported him to Licking Memorial Hospital for treatment.
The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital, where staff saw “suspicious injuries” to the child. With this discovery, an investigation was started that lasted 20 months regarding the death of this child.
Topp is said to have been watching the child at the time of the incident while his mother was at work.
He first told detectives that he was sleeping when he heard the child gasp, according to court documents seen by WBNS. Topp then said he got her out of her bed to administer CPR, but failed to call 911.
However, family members reportedly heard the child screaming and earlier yelling at Topp about not taking care of the child during the investigation, according to WCMH.
Topp is said to have refused their help and prevented his family members from seeing the child. Family members also revealed that Topp often stayed up at night playing video games, drinking alcohol and neglecting the child.
The autopsy of the baby revealed that the manner in which he died was homicide and the cause of his death was asphyxia, the investigator added that they found red spots on his neck and bruises on his jaw.
The infant tested positive for delta-8 THC, according to toxicology reports. This was discovered after Topp admitted to smoking in the same room as the child.
Investigators eventually learned that Topp wanted to go back to sleep, so it is alleged that he used a lot of force to hold the pacifier in his mouth and choked her.
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Assistant Prosecutor Tyler McCoy he said Topp was lying throughout the lengthy investigation, even though he eventually admitted to killing the child.
“This has been a lengthy investigation by the Licking County Sheriff’s Office, Mr. Topp has been interviewed numerous times and has shown deceptive behavior and made deceptive statements throughout the interviews and when he was arrested he admitted to putting a lot of force into the child’s mouth with a pacifier and he did not respond,” he said, via WBNS.
Topp is currently being held in the Licking County Jail on a $200,000 bond. His trial is expected to begin on July 27.
It is not yet clear if Topp has filed or retained legal counsel. The Licking County Sheriff’s Office did not immediately respond Us Weeklyrequest for comment on the case.
