VINEYARD, Utah, Aug. 1, 2023 (Gephardt Daily) — The Utah County Sheriff’s Office has released the name of an infant who was beaten to death on July 26.
She was 4-month-old Alexis Menengwa Berry. She lived 19 weeks and 2 days, the UCSO statement noted.
“The child’s mother failed to act to stop or report the abuse,” a Utah County Sheriff statement said. “The father and mother are in jail, both facing multiple felony charges.”
Last Wednesday afternoon, sheriff’s deputies and Orem Fire Department paramedics responded to the family residence on a report of an infant not conscious and not breathing. Paramedics transported the baby girl to Timpanogos Hospital in Orem, the UCSO statement says.
“The child was briefly treated there before being pronounced dead.”
An autopsy Thursday by the State Medical Examiner’s Office found that the infant sustained severe blunt force trauma injuries to the side of her head, the sheriff said. The trauma fractured her skull and caused large amounts of bleeding around the infant’s brain.
“Preliminary indications are that this injury caused the death of the infant. Doctors at the Medical Examiner’s Office also found evidence that the infant suffered multiple bruises that happened prior to the injuries she sustained the day she died.”
The little girl’s father has allegedly confessed to the fatal abuse, according to the sheriff’s office.
“The father of the infant, Alexzander Sean Berry, age 29, of Vineyard, told investigators he struck the infant in the head with his fist, choked her, held her around her abdomen and struck her head on a crib rail, wrapped her in a blanket, then threw her into the crib where the infant’s head hit the wall,” the press release reads.
“The mother of the infant, Myra Jane Megan, age 24, also of Vineyard, was in another room when she said she heard the infant scream. When she ran to the room she saw Berry had wrapped the infant in a blanket and saw him throw the infant into the crib.”
Berry was arrested and booked into the Utah County jail on suspicion of child abuse homicide, a first-degree felony, and two counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony.
Because Megan took no steps to stop or report the abuse, she was booked into the Utah County jail on suspicion of two counts of aggravated child abuse, a second-degree felony.
A judge ordered Berry held without bail. The judge ordered that Megan be held on $10,000 bail.
