Deputies say dad left child alone, returned to find him dead

JEFFERSON COUNTY – Sheriff’s Office investigators arrested a man early Thursday after he allegedly left his 5-month-old son at home alone while he went to a local bar, and then returned home to find the baby unconscious and unresponsive.

The child later was pronounced dead and an autopsy will determine the cause of the child’s death.

Joseph Trujillo, 23, was arrested at the apartment in the 16000 block of West 10th Avenue and remains in the Jefferson County jail on suspicion of first-degree murder, according to Mark Techmeyer, Sheriff’s Office spokesman.

Investigators, who were dispatched to the apartment after a 12:30 a.m. call from the child’s grandmother, arrested the suspect after interviewing Trujillo, the grandmother and a number of other witnesses during the early morning hours, according to Techmeyer.

The grandmother, who shared the apartment with her son and grandson, told deputies she awoke after hearing her son sobbing in another room, then found Trujillo holding the unresponsive child. Medical personnel declared the boy dead at the scene, according to Techmeyer.

Investigators believe Trujillo was at a local bar for six or seven hours after he left the child unsupervised. The grandmother told investigators she was not at home when Trujillo left the apartment and did not know he was away.