Mooresville man charged with murder in death of infant

MOORESVILLE, N.C. — The Iredell County Sheriff’s Office says a 25-year-old man is being charged with murder after an autopsy report indicated that his infant died by blunt force trauma.

According to the sheriff’s office, investigators were called to a home on Teeter Road for an unresponsive infant, with CPR still being performed. Deputies arrived and found the child had been taken to a hospital.

The child’s father, Adrian Lyons, told investigators that he found the baby unresponsive and called 911. The baby’s mother was interviewed and told detectives that Lyons woke her up and said they needed to take the child to the emergency room.

Lyons told investigators that he had fed the baby and put her down to sleep, but when he checked on her 30 minutes later, she was limp and unresponsive.

Investigators learned from medical staff that the baby had brain swelling, bleeding on the brain, and hemorrhages. The medical staff said the injuries were described as “un-accidental brain trauma.”

The sheriff’s office says that detectives talked to Lyons and he admitted that he had run into a door and struck the infant’s head about two weeks before she was found unresponsive. Steinseifer said she knew about that incident but didn’t seek medical attention because she was scared of getting in trouble.

Lyons and the mother, Calinda Steinseifer, were both charged with felony child abuse following the initial incident.

The sheriff’s office said the infant was taken to Levine Children’s Hospital. It’s unclear when the infant died, but an autopsy report was published on Thursday saying the baby died by blunt force trauma from assault.

After the autopsy report was released, detectives got a warrant for Lyons for felony first-degree murder.

Lyons is still being held in the Iredell County Detention Center.

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