FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A Fayetteville man facing second-degree murder charges for the death of a four-week-old infant in 2021 has pleaded guilty and been sentenced.
Charles Dugan, 29, was arrested in 2021 after the death of his four-week-old daughter.
The Fayetteville Police Department shared a police report stating that officers were called to an apartment on Kantz Drive at the end of August 2021 in response to an infant in cardiac arrest.
The report said first responders attempted life-saving measures on the scene before transporting the infant to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The infant's mother told police that Dugan, the infant's father, was alone with the child at the time of the incident, which she said was not uncommon, according to the report.
Fayetteville police said Dugan's first statement to investigators was that he had placed the infant in her crib while swaddled in a blanket and propped a bottle in her mouth using another blanket. He claims he then left the room and returned 10 minutes later to find the child choking, according to the report.
Dugan told police he tried to pat her on the back and clear her airway. He said he dialed 911 but that the call did not connect, so he took the infant to a neighbor who called 911 and attempted CPR.
An autopsy was conducted, and the medical examiner's office reported that the cause of the child's death had been identified as closed head injuries caused by blunt force trauma, with contributions from recent rib fractures. The child's death was ruled a homicide, according to Fayetteville police.
Police said Dugan was interviewed again, and this time his recollection of events had changed.
Dugan claimed he had fallen asleep with the child on his chest and believed she had dropped to the floor, according to police. He was unsure if the infant had struck the coffee table near the sofa or landed directly on the floor but said he woke up to the infant screaming on the floor. He went on to say the incident happened 30 to 45 minutes before he put the child in her crib.
Fayetteville police said Dugan provided "a litany of self-serving excuses, putting his own interests above the health of the child."
During another interview with investigators, the mother told police that Dugan suffers from sleepwalking and that he might have sleepwalked leading up to the child's death, police said. Dugan did not remember if he had sleepwalked and did not remember if he had awoken standing or seated when the child fell.
On Dec. 16, Dugan was arrested for unrelated charges stemming from an alleged battery at a local hospital. He was transported to the Fayetteville Police Department the next day and issued his Miranda Rights. While there, he said he did not remember what had happened the night the infant died in August, which differed from his earlier statement that he did not know what had happened to the infant.
On Sept. 5, Dugan took a plea agreement for the murder case and the separate incident at the hospital. He pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and second-degree battery.
Dugan was sentenced to 15 years in prison with a 15-year suspended sentence.
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