3-week-old baby hospitalized with broken ribs, liver damage; dad arrested for child abuse

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (WDAF) -- Kansas City police officers went to Children's Mercy Hospital on Monday morning, where investigators say a 3-week-old baby girl was intubated with life-threatening injuries from shaking and blunt force to her abdomen, causing rib fractures and liver damage.

Officers arrested 25-year-old Corriel Willis, and Jackson County prosecutors charged him with two counts of child abuse on Tuesday.

He told officers that his fiancée went out on Sunday night, and he was left to care for his three kids.

He said they fell asleep in the same bed with his 1-year-old son to one side, his 2-year-old daughter to the other, and 3-week-old daughter on a Boppy pillow at the foot of the bed. He said all of them were fine.

Court documents say he told officers that he woke up at about 3 a.m., to his 3-week-old daughter screaming and saw his 2-year-old daughter laying on top of her. He said the 3-week-old was wheezing and not breathing right, so he took her from the bedroom to the living room.

He told investigators he waited until about 4:40 a.m. to send a text message to his fiancée, stating something was wrong with their daughter. They went to the hospital at 5 a.m., where the baby girl was diagnosed with child physical abuse.

In addition to head trauma and rib fractures, court documents say she had red marks on her neck, injuries to her pancreas, spleen, liver, and was suffering from seizures. She's listed in critical condition.