I don't even know. I know I I picked the buck too rough and put him down too hard that day. Don't want to go talk to him. I won't apologize. >> This is Andrew Martin, a 24year-old man. Just a few months ago, he killed his 3-month-old baby. And now the secret has finally come to light. For weeks, Andrew had managed to keep the full weight of what happened locked away. But that illusion is gone now. Detectives have laid out the evidence, confronted him with the autopsy findings, and pushed him to a point where denial is no longer an option. >> Unfortunately, this case this case does not get closed until we figure that out. >> Um, this case doesn't go away. We have injuries that we need to to get explained. It's just afternoon on January 7th, 2020 when the Citrus County Sheriff's Office receives a 911 call from a man on the verge of panic. >> Citrus 911. What's the address of the emergency? [clears throat and laughter] >> 710 Randolph A in Florida 3453. Please send somebody quick is not breathing. >> Okay, sir. I need you to repeat the address for verification. >> 710 Randolph A in Florida 34453. >> Okay. What is your phone number? The man on the line is Andrew. His three-month-old son has just stopped breathing. In order to keep the baby alive before paramedics can arrive, the dispatcher walks Andrew through the safety measures he needs to perform on his own child. >> I'm currently with him. >> Okay. All right. You said he's 3 months >> about Okay. Is he awake? >> I I don't know. His eyes are kind of open. I I heard him like a little bit of air and now he's not. Okay. Is he breathing? >> No, ma'am. >> Okay, sir. >> Stay in. >> Okay. Well, I'm sending the paramedics to help you now. Stay on the line. Okay, sir. [snorts] >> Okay. Listen carefully. Are you right by the baby now? >> I'm currently right next to him. Yes. >> Okay. Listen carefully. Lay the baby flat on his back on the floor and remove any pillows. >> Okay. >> Okay. [snorts] Kneel next to the baby and look in the mouth for food or vomit. Is there anything in the mouth? >> Not that I can see. >> Okay. Now place your hand on the baby's forehead, your other hand under the baby's neck and shoulders. Then slightly tilt the head back. Put your [clears throat] ear next to his mouth. Can you feel or hear any breathing? No. >> Okay. I'm going to tell you how to give mouth to mouth. Completely cover the baby's mouth and nose with your mouth. Then blow two puffs of air into the lungs about 1 second each, just enough to make the chest rise with each breath. Okay, sir. >> Okay. >> Okay. Do you feel the air going in and out? Yes, I do. >> The dispatcher continues coaching Andrew through CPR, doing everything possible to keep him calm over the phone. But what the dispatcher doesn't know is that the baby has already died. >> Listen carefully and I'll tell you how to do chest compressions. Make sure the baby is flat on his back on the floor. Place two fingers on the breast bone in the center of the chest right between the nipples. >> Push. Okay. Push down about 1 and 1/2 in with only your fingers touching the chest. Pump the chest hard and fast 30 times at least twice per second. Let the chest come all the way up between pumps. Tell me when you're done. >> Okay, sir. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 That's the pace we want to be going at. >> 1 2 [snorts] 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 >> Okay, sir. We've done this 30 times. Okay. With your hand under his neck and shoulders, slightly tilt his head back again. Put your mouth over his nose and mouth. Now give two more puffs. Then pump the chest 30 more times. Make sure your fingers are on the breast bone in the center of the chest right between the nipples. Do you understand? >> Yes, ma'am. 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 1 2 3 4 >> While Andrew continues CPR, paramedics arrive and take over. But the life-saving measures do nothing. Because of that, the baby is rushed to the hospital where he's pronounced dead on arrival. For investigators, this is no longer just a tragedy, but the beginning of a case. When detectives sit down with Andrew to understand what really happened, something feels off almost immediately. Using a baby doll to walk through his story, Andrew begins painting the picture of a normal day. But the more he talks, the more it starts to look like a father who cared far less than he claims. >> Bottle. >> So, obviously, I was playing 2K. I [clears throat] don't have to put that on, right? Like, it could just make it seem okay. So, I'm playing 2K. He eats. He's perfectly fine. I obviously check on him back and forth as I'm playing. >> Yeah. And now, it was different this time because he didn't vomit or something like he >> Yeah. No, he normally he was vomiting from the last couple months and now he stopped the vomiting process. So, he was he was still burping but he wasn't, you know, vomiting and all of it was coming out of him onto his pampers and onto his body like that. So, >> and [snorts] so that that's been more of a change. >> It's been more of a change over time, but it was a good change. It wasn't a bad change. According to Andrew, after picking his son up to check on him, he burped the baby using the same technique a doctor had shown him and his wife Sarah back at the hospital. Convinced everything was fine and that the baby was drifting off to sleep, Andrew wrapped him up and laid him down in his room. A simple unremarkable end to the day, at least that's how Andrew tells it. >> He looked like he was falling asleep over here, which is why I made the decision to put him in his room. I don't normally keep him out here. It's not a comfortable position. >> Yeah. took him over here which is where he normally has his pillow >> which is out there. >> Yeah. So he had that pillow. You had him >> had his pillow. He has swallow his swallow. He was up in a position kind of like this. >> Okay. >> Which is when I laid him down. Gotcha. Straight up. Perfect. Had his binky. He was okay. >> Went outside. I continued to play my Xbox. >> When I came back in the room to check on him, his head was twisted this way towards the right facing the window. Mhm. >> Still swaddled up and he was doing the gasping thing. >> Okay. >> And now you had heard that from the living room. >> No, I just came in to check on him. I was making sure he was okay. >> Okay. >> So, when I came in here, I heard him doing the gasping. I picked him up. After I picked him up, I unwrapped him. >> I started beating on his back to make sure he wasn't choking on anything. >> Yeah. >> And he was on this side of my shoulder. So, I I was like this. >> Mhm. >> I faced him to me, which is when I saw him >> turning purple and blue, not breathing. Mhm. >> But detectives know Andrew was the one alone with the baby during his final hours and they need more than a bedtime story. So they push further, asking him to demonstrate exactly how he dresses and handles the baby when no one else is around. Andrew obliges, reenacting the routine step by step. >> So he normally gets wrapped like this. Comes over underneath. I'll take his [snorts] leg one. Put it like that. This arm comes down and I normally do just like this nice and snug just like that. I laid him right here. His binky was in his mouth. And the second one goes over like this just as like a security for that first blanket cuz he's a mover and he always managed to get that first blanket off. Two fingers just in the middle of his cervix, I believe is what it was called. And it was one, two, three, four, and just until his chest rised. >> With the reenactment finished, all detectives can do now is wait. Because the answer to what really happened to this baby isn't going to come from Andrew's version of events. It's going to come from the autopsy. And when that report finally lands on their desks, it tells a very different story. According to the autopsy, the baby died of multiple blunt force traumas. and the report showed that the baby didn't simply stop breathing, but someone hurt him. With that report in hand, detectives know it's time to bring both Andrew and his wife Sarah in for questioning. The first person they interviewed is Sarah. >> Um, hey, real quick, cuz so this since this is still an investigation, we want to ask some more questions about some stuff before we get to into um, you know, what we found out from uh, all the different tests and doctors and stuff. And since you're in a police station, I understand you came here on your own will and you are free to leave at any time. So, I was hoping that we could kind of touch on like So, I remember in the morning you you woke up first >> and fed Zayen. >> I didn't. >> Okay. How did Can you Can you kind of retract on that and and kind >> what I remember from that day? I went to work. He fed Zayen. Before any of that, I don't remember much. >> Okay. Cuz um we were kind of going back uh and I was just kind of going through like the the morning routine. You said usually he would wake up around like six. >> Yeah. >> Or or sick from 6:00 to 8. And you'd feed every like two hours, like two ounces. >> Does that sound right? >> Okay. And so that was your first day going back to work? >> Mhm. >> So was Aiden awake when you before you left for work? >> Yes. >> Okay. How was how was he doing? >> Was he crying? Was he >> um did he seem awake? Did he seem like lethargic? Um, he didn't seem like like overly tired or out of like a like a personality difference, I guess you could say. >> Not that day, though. >> Okay. Detectives walk Sarah through the morning their son Zaden died. She doesn't remember feeding him because Andrew had already done that before she left for work. It was her first day back on the job since having the baby. And by all accounts, that morning had been unremarkable. Zaden was awake, alert, and looking right at her when she left the house. So, what happened between the moment she walked out the door and the moment everything fell apart? >> All right. So, some of the things um that we're having some issues with um there's some inconsistencies as far as uh like his health like leading up to this. So uh within the medical examiner when so obviously there was the autopsy >> um some things that we found that weren't uh good and you know leave us with some questions is there was actually uh some ri fractures some that were healing and some that were new. >> Explain that. >> So ribs a child's bones are like very like they're soft. They're malleable. So for them to break it takes uh it takes a significant amount of force. It's not from CPR. It's not from just padding and and you know burping. So this is at various points of the very small window of the 3 months that he was alive as far as uh the healing injuries and then the new injuries. So, we're starting to we're trying to look for explanations as to how these things develop. >> Okay. Now, can that happen from tying him too tight from the blanket? >> No. >> Can that happen from padding? Now, the only way I see that happening is when he was dying, cuz Drew did say, you know, he hit up like, >> but that wouldn't explain the healing in the different stages. >> And the only other thing I could think of is his parents. >> Okay. So, >> I was with him the whole time until that day I went to work. >> Right. Um, did you ever have to uh or did did Andrew ever have to like discipline him per se >> for I mean if he was crying too much or or anything like that. >> Okay. >> There was none of that. >> All right. Cuz so along with the rib fractures and these are like I said they're varying times. It's from start to finish. >> Okay. >> Is is the range of of these healing bones. the uh there was bruising on his buttocks in a linear fashion which would be possibly consistent with a hand. His scrotum was also bruised. So he he had there was a significant amount of trauma to his his lower body and there was also blood on his brain. >> Blood on his brain. >> So all of these things are consistent with trauma. A severe amount of trauma. >> Okay. with the bruising on his butt. >> Mhm. >> That was I don't know what could that be from the ENT? >> No. >> No. >> And I >> So how would the ENT have caused the bruising? Like what do you mean? >> There's no medical there's no medical purpose or reason to and it's not from a grab. Like these the bruising is from a hit. The only other hit I'm thinking of is when he hit him when he stopped. >> So, and in our and in our reenactment, the he says he hit him on his back. >> Mhm. >> This bruising is under >> and it's not superficial. It's like through the skin into the muscle. >> I don't know. I You can't >> Well, and and that's touching him while he was dead. I have no I have no [ __ ] idea. >> Right. understand that they can't get he cannot get these injuries like after death. Okay. And the different stages of the healing on the rib fractures uh they go back you have the ones that were new. Okay. And then there were some that already had been um conducted started pretty much were through the healing process. Okay. So it wouldn't even been up into like the time that his parents had him. technically does not fall in that time frame. Okay? Because you said that and that's why I'm just saying that. I'm just putting that out there. All right? And like he said in the reenactment, Andrew shows him padding Zen on his back. >> All right. The linear bruising that's on his buttocks area. Okay. It's totally different area. >> All right. And and when he also describes his linear, okay, just like fingers how these lines run here, that's how the lines technically they're bruising. were. So, and I understand immediately you're like, "No, I've been with him every day from the moment he was born till the day I went back to school." >> But >> like wouldn't the doctor like notice something, his breathing? >> Cuz if my ribs broken, he would know that, >> right? And that's probably >> it's probably along the lines of why he wasn't eating with you guys is because he was in pain. So when he goes to the doctor's office, if he's not eating and he's not, you know, doing this, they're not going to be doing X-rays to look for. >> Could it be from a dog? >> What's that? >> A dog. Can a dog do that? >> No. >> Like jumping by accident? >> No, it it wouldn't be a dog. >> Okay. My dog said, um, are you sure it was like a rash on his butt? >> It was not a rash. Rashes don't go through the skin and through the fat into the muscle. >> Detectives push further, asking about the days leading up to Zaden's death. Sarah describes a child who had been running hot, crying, seemingly in pain for close to 3 days. Before that, Zaden had spent time with his grandparents. And medical records show that while in his grandparents care, Zaden had been thriving, gaining weight. But once he was back with Sarah and Andrew, he was underweight. And this alone shows something had changed the moment he came home. >> [music] >> Detectives ask if Andrew had ever seemed overwhelmed, angry, pushed to the edge. Sarah admits there had been talk between them about giving Zaden up to other family members because things had gotten hard. Andrew, she says, would get frustrated when the baby woke him up, irritated by the dogs, and irritated by life in general. He wasn't working and often talked about trying, but she was never sure if he actually did. Sarah recalls a moment when Andrew lifted Zaden off the bed mid diaper change, and it wasn't gentle. She didn't see anything visibly broken, but something about it didn't sit right with her. She took the baby from him despite Zaden crying. It's a small detail, almost forgettable on its own until detectives point out that it lines up almost perfectly with the timeline for one of Zayen's rib injuries. >> The cause of death is blunt force trauma. The manner is homicide. This is a case that's not going to go away. We have to determine what happened to him. And the best help that we have is you guys. Now, do you guys just know what you are told? >> Wait. Or have you investigated like actual like the doctors do all this, right? >> Yes. >> And you just get the paperwork. >> No, I was at his autopsy. >> Okay. So you can you >> I physically saw his blood on the brain. I physically saw the fractured ribs >> and they said that that was the case. >> Yes. >> Of how he died. >> And this is unfortunately not our first uh death of a 3 month. I think we've had god I think we're four this year. >> Yeah. And now I actually physically transported Zayen to have him further testing done and I watched the other testing done which also included multiple extra x-rays that they don't normally do. So yes, this is something that we were both part of the entire time and we're there hand in hand. So everything we're telling you like we've seen we know we just need to know why and how >> because like we had talked about the day of is Sid's was this a health issue and all of that has been ruled out. We have to determine what the mechanism was and and what happened to him. >> I don't know that's all I can tell you. I mean, >> I don't know about the butt thing. >> We We owe it to you and we owe it to your family to find this out. There was something that immediately made you think of an instance where uh Andrew was holding him like this. Can you tell us more about that? I know you didn't think you saw a squeeze. Um but what made you think of that particular situation? You said earlier that Andrew has gotten a little upset cuz the baby wouldn't stop crying and he screamed at him. Any of those times did he pick him up? Does that mean he's holding him and he's screaming at him? We were there. I mean, we saw the holes in the wall. I mean, we know that he can get a little frustrated. Mhm. >> Listen, Michelle, I don't think that Andrew >> No, I don't I don't think it was like that at all. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Do you think, you know, I I feel like maybe you were the safety net the whole time? I mean, he had you to to rely on and to help with for uh you know, all the time that you guys worked together before you went back to work. Do you think he felt overwhelmed when you when it was just him and the and Satan? I tell you what. Um I mean you said you you seen him yelling at him before. I'm asking you and you're not really kind of answering. Have you ever has there been a time where you've seen him grab him and pick him up and yell at him? Where he was angry? Have you done that? I I mean, I'm be honest. I got to ask you. >> I mean, he was holding him. I didn't see you like that. Like that. >> Whether Sarah is protecting Andrew or simply trying to make sense of what happened herself, one thing is clear to detectives. Either Andrew or Sarah knows exactly what happened to the baby. When they tell Sarah they're about to speak with Andrew directly, her reaction says more than her words ever could. She immediately warns that Andrew will freak out and reveals that Andrew has been worried one of them would get blamed for Zaden's death. For detectives, that single comment lands heavier than anything else she said. It's the kind of thing you say when you already know how this ends. With Sarah's interview finished, detectives move on to Andrew. >> All right. Um, so some of the things that that we do need to try and figure out and uh and go over to um because we so what ended up happening on the back side of things is stuff we're waiting on. So there was obviously the autopsy, >> correct? >> Um there was a skeletal exam uh which occurred after the autopsy and there was waiting on toxicology for a while and then there was another um medical exam done by [clears throat] a neurologist I believe. Um, so we've gone through quite the battery of of tests and and examinations and things. Um, but so there's still some unanswered questions based on on what we observed ourselves, not just >> medical documents because I attended um the autopsy. Uh, he attend attended the the skeletal exam. Um, so I mean this is stuff that's just not coming back on paperwork. It's it's something I physically observed myself which you know um wasn't you know a pleasant experience. Um >> so some of the things that we that were noticed were different stages of healing of fractures on his ribs. So this was um would have been early on like early early >> Mhm. all the way till um he passed away. >> So I don't know how to explain that. >> Yeah, cuz I I I'd like an explanation as to that cuz like I told you when you guys first saw me that day there, never once in my life will I ever put my [ __ ] hands on my kids and I grab your gun and shoot myself in the head, right? [ __ ] not prove that. All right, but my father on the other [ __ ] hand beat me as a child. That is the exact reason I told him myself and promised myself and that woman sitting in that [ __ ] house never do anything to that child. So for you to tell me that there's something wrong with his ribs and that it was a process of healing >> that that's >> there was there was new healing and then old. So this would have been from essentially the start >> from when he was born. >> Yeah. Not not from birth though because we have those medical records. >> Okay. Obviously. >> Right. So Some of the other concerns uh would be uh blood on his brain, >> blood in his brain, >> blood on his brain. And that would be from a traumatic event near the time of his death. >> Like anything traumatic? >> What do you mean? >> Like like me yelling me yelling at a dog. This would be this would be a physical traumatic event. There was also linear bruising on his buttocks. Um could be in the shape of a hand and fingers. >> Um and there's also bruising on his scrotum. So there was some sort of trauma to his lower end. >> Okay. >> And that would have been recent because if this would have occurred with your at your parents house >> it would have been noticed. One you would have noticed it. >> Correct. >> She would have noticed it. The doctor would have noticed it. If there's anything on his butt that possibly could have been me, maybe from when I was tapping him and [ __ ] but >> not to the excess that I would leave a handprint on him. At least I don't believe I was >> hitting him that hard. Was there anything on his back from where I was hitting him? >> Okay. So, this would be more of an isolated thing. It wouldn't be and it wouldn't be postmortem, which is post death. >> This would have been before that. >> Okay. So that's why we're trying to figure out what occurred that morning that could have caused these injuries cuz it's it's something that we have to explain. It's something that you know your family needs answers to. It's something that we have to figure out. >> Aiden, >> okay, this and unfortunately this case this case does not get closed until we figure that out. >> Um this case doesn't go away. We have injuries that we need to to get explained. Do I think anybody wanted to intentionally hurt this young child? No. >> I mean, I think I don't I don't want to believe that I hurt his ribs. >> Andrew is visibly shaken, almost frantic, insisting that he would never hurt his children. In an emotional attempt to prove his innocence, he even makes an extreme statement about what he would be willing to do to convince the detectives. [music] He tells them about his own difficult childhood and the experiences that shaped him, explaining that he never wanted Zaden to go through anything similar. When detectives bring up the bruising, Andrew tries to explain it, suggesting that it could have happened while he was patting Zaden on the back. Andrew insists he can't remember anything that would explain the injuries. But detectives aren't done. They lay out exactly what the autopsy showed. Injuries too significant and deliberate to be explained by CPR or a few pats on the back. They tell Andrew that these are the kind of rib fractures they see in children whose parents grab or squeeze them out of frustration. And with that pressure finally closing in on him, something in Andrew breaks. >> So So there's a possibility that those injuries on my son are from me from grabbing him too hard if we did [clears throat] have a fight because I we we did have problems obviously when he was born. I did pick up Zayen a little too rough sometimes. Obviously not on that day, you know, and obviously like you said, I was frustrated and stuff, but it was never intentionally to hurt him or anything. It was just out of anger. And, you know, I did grab him a couple times too hard and pick him up a little too fast, but again, I never did anything intentionally to hurt him. >> We don't think that >> I did pick him up, you know, rough sometimes and I was rough around him. you know, like I was screaming around him a lot and she told me to stop doing that because that's also a traumatic thing and I really should have listened and I didn't. Like the holes in our house are from my anger. >> So, >> Andrew, understand we don't we don't think you're a bad guy, Andrew. We're just trying to >> I love my son. >> Andrew, I would never question that. I would never question >> I want him back. [laughter] I want him back, dude. Man, one thing I knew from day one when we were in [snorts] Sorry. I tried so hard. >> One thing I knew from day one is that you love that child. >> I knew that 100% talking to you. And we owe it to you. We owe it to Michelle. We owe it to Zen to just figure out these little things. Like I said, I [snorts] we do not doubt at all. His head. So, >> but for you telling me that his head was injured, his >> So, his head his head didn't hit like like his skull wasn't crushed. his skull like wasn't deformed. It wasn't he didn't he didn't hit his head on something like hard. Now like when we said there's there's blunt force trauma that means a wide variety of things. It's not like a CSI where it was like you know the candlestick in the kitchen or something. >> So but what could have happened is if there was that level of frustration and he was put down too hard on a even on a soft surface. I was going to say, could it be from being picked up as well if I picked him up too hard? Possibly. >> Did something happen before you put him down? >> No. >> After feeding? >> No, I I just put him down. I I remember putting him down perfectly fine. But in the morning when I did go to feed him, I did pick him up. Not as soft as I normally did. And >> in that moment, I kind of did feel like I did something wrong, but he was perfectly fine cuz when I picked him up, it it picked him up and his neck was like that. It >> did like jolt back and I caught it with my hand and he seemed fine. That's why I didn't mention it. And I jolted it. Then I squeeze too hard. >> Andrew, when you went in there to feed him, were you were you frustrated? >> I don't think so. Was this uh was this before you were playing video games? >> Yeah. And I just woken up and I went to go take care of him. I mean, this was I Andrew, I I'm not I'm not I'm not a father, okay? But I know I already know what's going to happen. My first day as me and him were oneonone, that is going to be a frightening day for me. >> How were you feeling that morning? I mean, it was sad. I was I was scared of being alone with him. I didn't want to be alone >> with him. Like, but I knew she had to go to work and make money to take care of him, obviously, cuz my parents and her parents aren't going to take care of him forever. I wasn't frustrated that morning. But you were scared and I rushed it. I can't. [laughter] What the [ __ ] [ __ ] It's going to be all right, man. All right. >> [laughter] >> There you go. It's okay. Just take some deep breaths. All right. Just like and just like just like that first day. All right. And I'm here for you. All right. I know you didn't. Please forgive. here. Did you put him down on the couch after that? >> I think I [laughter] put him down too hard. >> Okay. for when I went to change his diaper. [laughter] I checked him in the morning when I put him on. What's that? The curb in the corner of the room [laughter] by the window. Oh, by the window. Okay. [snorts] The the changing station. It's It's like this, but the the inside's inverted. So, it's [snorts] more cushioning on the edges. And it's basically like he's laying on the wood in the center. And he was perfectly fine throughout all of that. And he didn't do anything. [laughter] Did he cry at all? Not really. The [snorts] only time he cried was when the bottle fell out of his mouth, but I figured that was because it fell out of his mouth and he stopped when I gave it back to him. I gave him his big key and he [snorts] was there. He just he looked up at me and he was laying down. I didn't see any tears. I didn't hear him cry. I didn't hear like a whimper or a gas or anything. I didn't hear anything. Was he [snorts] Was he more quiet than usual? >> [snorts] >> There's a reason why I started going into his room every 5 minutes is because he was he would always cry for attention. >> At that point, Zayen was already dying and Andrew had no idea. After everything he's just told detectives, there's only one conversation left for him to have. He needs to sit down with Sarah and finally tell her the truth about what really happened to their son. You know, I know I I picked the buck too rough and put him down too hard that day. >> Don't want to go talk to him. I won't go home. >> After the interview, Andrew was charged with aggravated manslaughter, child abuse, and child neglect. He later pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.