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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A toddler who was beaten by his mother's boyfriend when he got angry over potty training died Monday after being hospitalized with critical injuries days earlier, police said.
Officers are investigating possible homicide charges against 2-year-old James Siger Jr.'s mother, Jasmine Bridgeman, 23, and her boyfriend, Joshua Schoenenberger, 34.
The couple were arrested Saturday on suspicion of felony and misdemeanor child abuse after they brought the boy to a hospital in Layton.
When they arrived, James had stopped breathing and was badly bruised, according to jail documents. Doctors restored his breathing but found he had suffered internal injuries.
His body also showed evidence of past abuse, police said.
The Associated Press sought comment from the suspects, but no attorneys for the couple were listed in court documents and they did not have publicly listed phone numbers.
Schoenenberger initially told police that he left the boy alone in the bathtub and returned to find him face-down in the water, according to jail booking documents. Later, he said his girlfriend caused the injuries while giving the boy a bath but then acknowledged the beating, the records say.
Police say Bridgeman gave differing accounts before telling them about the beating. She said her boyfriend asked her to lie about the incident, according to jail documents.
Schoenenberger also was investigated for child abuse in 2010, when he was accused of pulling a neighbor child off a bicycle, choking him and burning him with a cigarette during a water balloon fight between some kids, Layton police Lt. Travis Lyman said.
Schoenenberger pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of misdemeanor reckless endangerment in that case, court records show. He also has a history of drug possession charges.
The boy's father lives outside Utah and has been notified of the death.
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