A 32-year-old man, Eric Richard Boudreau, was arrested in Washington state on Wednesday, March 29, for allegedly killing a 13-month-old baby that he was babysitting last year. The Lacey Police Department posted the arrest on their Twitter account, which showed a photo of the suspect, cuffed with his hands behind his back.
The affidavit of probable cause stated that at about 2 p.m. on November 11, 2022, emergency responders received a call from a house on Campus Glen Drive Northeast that a child had been hurt by falling down the stairs. His babysitter was said to have fallen asleep while he was supposed to be watching him.
The babysitter was identified as Boudreau.
Upon arrival, emergency responders immediately attended to the infant and took him to Providence St. Peter Hospital. Medics were able to hear a heartbeat after 16 rounds of CPR. After that, he was taken to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle but unfortunately, he died due to his injuries.
After the autopsy, they discovered that the death was caused by blunt force trauma to the head and the death was determined to be a homicide. They also discovered that the injuries did not look like they came from falling down the carpeted stairs as there “wasn’t a square inch” left on the child’s body that was not bruised.
A medic said that it was the worst injury that he’d seen in his 17 years of being a medic.
The boy’s mother, who shared the house with Boudreau and another mother who had two children, said that she left the boy with Boudreau since she had to go to work and the day care was closed. She did not think that he could do such a thing. The boy’s father, who also lived in the same building, heard Boudreau telling the crying boy to be quiet but he decided to not do anything about it and left for work.
Further investigation revealed that the suspect played at a gig the night before, drank, and smoked marijuana. Despite his condition, he believed that he was fine with watching the boy. He said that he fell asleep and called the mother when he saw that the boy fell down the stairs.
Boudreau was arrested on suspicion of second-degree murder. He attended his preliminary hearing in Thurston County Superior Court on Friday and is currently held in Thurston County jail without bail.
