Court records said the infant died seven days after he was found unresponsive inside an apartment.
BAYTOWN, Texas — A Baytown father has been charged with capital murder after investigators said his 7-week-old son suffered fatal head trauma inside a family apartment in July 2025 and died days later at a Houston hospital.
Christopher Leon Jenkins, 26, was arrested Saturday and booked into the Harris County Jail nearly nine months after emergency crews were called to the apartment. Court records said a judge later found probable cause for the charge to move forward. Jenkins is accused of causing the infant’s death by striking him, throwing him and shaking him while the baby was in his care. The child’s name was not released in available reports, and Jenkins remained jailed without bond as of Tuesday.
Baytown police were called July 25, 2025, to an apartment on East James Avenue for a report that a newborn was not breathing. Court documents said emergency responders found the 7-week-old boy lying on a mattress with no clothes on, no pulse and pink fluid coming from his mouth. The child was first taken to Houston Methodist, where he began breathing again, then transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. He died Aug. 1, seven days after the 911 call. Investigators said Jenkins was alone with the baby when the child stopped breathing. The baby’s mother told investigators she had handed the infant to Jenkins while she went to another unit in the same apartment complex to see her mother.
According to court documents, the mother said Jenkins came to her about 20 minutes later and told her something was wrong with the baby. A witness told investigators the baby had been crying before the emergency call and that Jenkins was heard yelling at the child to “shut up.” The witness said the crying then stopped. Jenkins first told investigators he had put the baby to sleep and stepped outside to smoke a cigarette, then returned and found him not breathing, records said. Investigators later said Jenkins gave several different accounts, including claims that he accidentally dropped the baby while feeding him or dropped him while taking him out of a bath.
Investigators said Jenkins later described becoming angry because the baby would not stop crying. In one interview, records said, Jenkins told detectives, “There was too much crying in my mind,” and said something “just clicked.” Authorities said Jenkins used a doll during a police walkthrough to show how he handled the child. Court documents said he threw the doll onto a bed and described the baby bouncing off the mattress and landing on the floor. Investigators said Jenkins also admitted that after the infant landed on the floor, he picked him up and shook him. The affidavit said medical findings were not consistent with Jenkins’ earlier explanations that the child had stopped breathing on his own.
The Harris County medical examiner’s findings became a key part of the case. Records said the infant died from blunt force trauma to the head with subdural hemorrhage. Officials ruled the death a homicide. Court documents also described injuries prosecutors said were caused by violent acceleration and deceleration forces, language often used in cases involving severe shaking. Investigators also accused Jenkins of striking the baby with his hand or a blunt object. Authorities have not released every detail from the autopsy, and reports did not list a public statement from Jenkins’ attorney. The capital murder charge is tied to the victim’s age, because Texas law allows the charge when a child younger than 10 is killed.
The case remained under investigation for months before the charge was filed. Local reports said Jenkins was arrested April 25 and booked into the Harris County Jail. A judge denied bond at his first reported court appearance. By Monday, a judge had found probable cause in the case, and a no-bond hearing was scheduled for May 11. Prosecutors will have to decide how to proceed with the charge as the case moves through Harris County’s court system. No trial date had been announced as of Tuesday, and the public court record cited in reports did not show that Jenkins had entered a plea.
Baytown is about 30 miles east of Houston, and the case drew attention across the region after court documents described the baby’s final hours. The apartment call began as a medical emergency, but the investigation changed as doctors reported brain bleeding, cardiac arrest and injuries they said were consistent with abuse. The child briefly regained breathing after first aid and hospital care, but doctors could not save him. Reports said the baby’s mother was nearby in the same complex when the emergency unfolded. Police have not accused her of wrongdoing in the reports reviewed, and authorities have not released any allegation that another adult caused the fatal injuries.
Jenkins remained in Harris County custody Tuesday without bond. The next scheduled court milestone is a May 11 no-bond hearing, while prosecutors continue the capital murder case tied to the infant’s Aug. 1 death.
Author note: Last updated April 28, 2026.