Dad charged with homicide after girlfriend allegedly beats 2-year-old to death in Fayette County
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A father already arrested after police said his girlfriend beat his 2-year-old son to death in Fayette County has been charged with homicide.
Charges of homicide, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person were filed this week against 25-year-old Brett Bissett.
Thirty-year-old Brianna Bloyer was charged earlier this month with homicide in 2-year-old Bentlee Myers' death.
Myers was taken to the hospital on Aug. 16 after he was found unresponsive at a home on Old Lake Lynn Road in Springhill Township. Doctors said the boy had multiple bruises and internal injuries and he was declared brain dead. He died a few days later, and police said doctors listed his cause of death as cardiac arrest by head trauma.
According to court paperwork, Bissett had seen Bloyer assault and try to assault the 2-year-old on multiple occasions.
A few days before the boy's death, investigators said Bissett and Bloyer found him facedown and unconscious when he was alone in the bathtub. Bissett told police he believed his son was underwater for five to six minutes. Police said the boy regained consciousness before EMS arrived. The couple was advised to take the boy to the hospital, but police said they didn't.
Investigators said Bissett and the boy's mother shared custody of the toddler. When the boy was with Bissett, he told police that Bloyer would be alone with him multiple times a week for more than eight hours at a time. Bissett said he saw the boy was being injured and confronted Bloyer about it, but he didn't remove him from her care.
Police said they looked at photos of the boy throughout his life and saw that several showed bruising and other injuries like burns, scratches and cuts on his body.
Bissett had already been charged with tampering with evidence, obstruction of the administration of law and hindering apprehension. The Fayette County district attorney said Bissett "went out of his way to obstruct our investigation" and even left the area with Bloyer for "a time."