Rest in peace: Passed away after dad took his…See more ⠀ﾠ​͏

These questions may appear simple, but together they can help investigators understand the circumstances surrounding the death.

Accident or negligence?
One of the most difficult aspects of cases like this is determining whether an event should be understood as an unavoidable accident or whether negligence may have contributed.

Those are not necessarily the same thing.

An exhausted parent unintentionally falling asleep while holding a baby can be a tragic accident.

At the same time, investigators may need to determine whether there were circumstances that could have made the situation particularly dangerous.

That is why authorities cannot simply rely on assumptions.

They need evidence.

The father’s account will be important, but investigators may also consider statements from other people and the physical evidence available at the home.

Medical findings can also help establish how the child died and whether the injuries are consistent with the reported fall.

A family facing impossible grief
Regardless of what the investigation eventually determines, one fact cannot be changed.

A two-month-old child has died.

For the parents and relatives, the grief will extend far beyond the investigation.

A baby who was supposed to grow up, learn to walk, speak, attend school, celebrate birthdays, and build a life is suddenly gone.

There will be no opportunity to create those memories.

Instead, the family is left with memories of a child who lived for only a short time.

That kind of loss can be especially difficult because newborns represent possibility.

A baby’s future is almost entirely unwritten.

Families imagine who the child will become, what interests they will develop, what their personality will be like, and what milestones they will eventually reach.

When a baby dies at only two months old, all of those imagined futures disappear at once.

The father faces another kind of trauma
The tragedy is also particularly painful because, according to the account provided, the father was directly involved in the accident.

Even if investigators ultimately determine that the death was accidental, he may have to live with the memory of that night for the rest of his life.

A parent losing a child is already an unimaginable form of grief.

When the parent believes their own actions may have contributed to the death, the emotional burden can become even more complicated.

There may be guilt.