Investigators allege James Westervelt abused the child before the 6-month-old died from blunt head trauma.
OCALA, Fla. — A Marion County grand jury has indicted a Florida man on a first-degree murder charge in the 2024 death of his 6-month-old son, nearly two years after investigators began examining allegations that the child had been abused.
James Westervelt, 38, was charged after prosecutors filed the indictment July 30, according to Marion County court records cited by local and national news organizations. Westervelt was already being held in the Marion County Jail in connection with the investigation. The indictment is an accusation, and he has not been convicted of the charge.
The infant was hospitalized and placed on life support in August 2024 after authorities responded to a report that he was unresponsive, according to reporting based on the investigation. The child died several days later. Doctors determined that he suffered fatal blunt-force head trauma, which authorities attributed to forceful bouncing or shaking.
Investigators also allege that Westervelt previously used a leaf blower to direct air at the infant when the child was between several weeks and 2 months old. Authorities said a video showed the baby struggling to breathe during that incident. Westervelt allegedly told investigators that he used the equipment because he thought it would be funny.
Available reports do not establish that the leaf blower caused the child’s fatal injuries. Local reporting said doctors linked the death to head trauma caused by the way the infant was bounced. The leaf blower recording instead became part of a broader abuse investigation and contributed to an earlier child abuse charge against Westervelt.
Authorities said investigators interviewed Westervelt again after his arrest on the child abuse allegation in April 2026. The Marion County Sheriff’s Office said he gave statements that conflicted with information he had provided earlier in the investigation. Detectives then worked with the state attorney’s office to pursue a murder charge, according to a statement reported by People.
Westervelt was initially charged with second-degree murder, according to public court and arrest records reviewed by People. Prosecutors later dismissed that charge and filed the first-degree murder case after obtaining the indictment. The publicly available reports did not provide the full indictment, explain the prosecution’s complete theory or identify all evidence presented to the grand jury.
The child’s name has not been consistently released in established local reporting. Authorities have also not publicly disclosed who recorded the leaf blower video, when investigators obtained it or whether other people were present during the alleged incidents. No independently verified statement from Westervelt addressing the first-degree murder allegation was available.
Westervelt also faces unrelated allegations of possessing methamphetamine and drug paraphernalia in a separate case. Those charges are not part of the infant death prosecution and do not establish guilt in the murder case.
Westervelt remained in custody and was expected to return to court in the murder case in September. A plea, trial date and detailed schedule for further proceedings had not been publicly announced as of Sunday.
Author note: Last updated August 2, 2026.