Police: St. Charles Man Charged With Murder for Strangling Infant

A St. Charles man has been charged with second degree murder and endangering the welfare of child in the first degree following the death of a four-month-old. 

Jordan Lafayette Prince, 24, of St. Charles, was charged Thursday following the asphyxiation death of an infant on Dec. 4, 2012. 

According to the probable cause statement, Prince told St. Charles Police that he was watching the child on Dec. 3 in the living room of his residence in the 3600 block of Fremont while the infant's mother slept. At approximately 11:30 a.m. Prince told police he became frustrated when the infant would not stop crying. 

Prince told police that he knowingly handled the infant in a cruel manner and was rougher than he should have been. Prince told police he choked the infant before leaving the child on its side on a love seat. About an hour later, Prince checked on the infant and found the child in an unresponsive state. 

The infant was transported to a local hospital before being flown to Cardinal Glennon Hospital. The female infant, named Ashlynn, died the next day, Dec. 4. An autopsy preformed on Dec. 5 ruled the cause of death to be asphyxiation and death was ruled to be a homicide.

According to a press release from St. Charles Police, Prince and Ashlynn's mother had been in a relationship for five months, although Prince is not the father of the infant.

A warrant was issued for Prince's arrest on Thursday, Dec. 6,  with a cash only bond amount of $150,000.

Update: An earlier version of this story had the infant's name spelled incorrectly.