Red Wing man indicted with first-degree murder charges in baby's death
RED WING, Minn. — A 27-year-old Red Wing man now faces first-degree murder charges in the death of his 8-week-old child earlier this year.
The Goodhue County Grand Jury on Friday returned an indictment against Hunter Matthew McCutchen, according to the county attorney's office. McCutchen now faces two counts of first-degree murder and 13 additional charges in connection to the death on May 25.
"The indictment was the result of a four-and-a-half-month investigation by the Red Wing Police Department and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension," the attorney's office said.
McCutchen was previously charged with several counts of manslaughter and one count of child endangerment. In Minnesota, only a grand jury can bring about first-degree murder charges.
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According to the criminal complaint, the boy's mother called police on May 25 shortly after noon, saying her baby was not breathing. Officers arrived to a "very traumatic" scene; McCutchen walked into the kitchen, holding the boy who was "not responsive and light blue in color."
The baby was taken to the emergency room, where EMS staff continued life-saving efforts for one hour, before he was airlifted to a hospital in Rochester. X-rays of the baby showed rib fractures and bleeding in the brain, charges say.
A child abuse pediatrician interviewed the baby's mother that evening. The mother said her baby "looked well" when she left home to drop her 4-year-old daughter off at preschool that morning. When she returned around noon, she said the boy was limp and "pale and blue in color."
She said she'd recently noticed bruising on the baby's body, and had taken photos on her phone, documents say. The doctor looked at the photos and determined that he was a victim of abusive head trauma, which is injury to a baby that involves shaking or impact beyond normal care.
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Later, during a post-Miranda interview, the woman said she'd considered leaving McCutchen because he uses marijuana every day, drinks alcohol frequently, and had been violent towards her in the past resulting in criminal domestic assault charges against him. She said she had cameras in their apartment because he'd cheated on her and lied about it, charges state.
The complaint goes on to say that the woman called an officer the next day, saying that McCutchen had told her he had "hurt him," referring to the boy, and said he was responsible for the infant's dire medical condition.
She recorded part of their conversation, in which McCutchen admitted he "shook him once" and "put [his] hand over his mouth."
The baby was pronounced dead two days later.
McCutchen appeared in court on the indictment Monday, with his next court appearance set for Nov. 13. He is being held at the Goodhue County Adult Detention Center on $2 million cash bail.
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