St. Cloud Man Charged with Manslaughter After Allegedly Smothering Infant Son While Drunk

(KNSI) — A St. Cloud man is charged after he allegedly smothered his seven month old son while drunk.

According to the criminal complaint, just before 3:30 a.m. September 22nd, 2021, officers were called to a home on the 1700 block of Roosevelt Road for a child who was not breathing. The mother said she found the boy unresponsive and cold to the touch. Despite lifesaving measures by first responders, the child was pronounced dead at the scene. Investigators spoke to the father, 36-year-old Joshua Cox, who was caring for the child. He said he went to bed with the baby and another one of his kids about 11:30 p.m. His wife said she spoke to her husband around 10:00 that night and could tell by his voice he was drunk. She came home from work several hours later and found her son face down on the bed with Cox’s head on the baby’s back.

Prosecutors say a blood sample taken from Cox about five hours later showed a blood alcohol concentration of .128. Cox said he had three or four shots of Fireball whisky spread out over a period of time after his wife went to work, and he hadn’t consumed any alcohol past 10:30 p.m. Experts working backward indicated Cox was “significantly intoxicated” at the time he put the child in his bed and went to sleep next to him. Cox admitted he had a drinking problem but believed it was under control and limited himself to “several drinks a night,” according to court papers. Officers say during the investigation they saw Cox try and hide an empty bottle of Fireball whisky. Several bottles of Fireball and other forms of alcohol were found all over the house during the execution of a search warrant. The home was also found to be “significantly cluttered and nearly unlivable at the time due to various other health hazards.”

The Medical Examiner determined the child died of positional asphyxia due to unsafe sleeping conditions and ruled out any other possible cause of death. The boy was “well developed and had no evidence of specific congenital abnormalities, natural disease or life threatening traumatic injuries.” A marker sometimes associated with epilepsy was discovered during an autopsy, but it was not deemed a factor.

While court documents say the death was unintentional, Cox was the parent and sole caregiver responsible for the health and safety of the baby, and prosecutors say he was responsible for and directly contributed to the unsafe sleeping environment.

Cox is charged with two counts of second degree manslaughter in the case.

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