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SALT LAKE CITY — A Logan man was charged Tuesday with aggravated murder for the December death of an infant girl.
The first-degree felony was filed in 1st District Court in Logan against Kyle Taylor Gooch, 30.
On Dec. 15, Kynlee Jo Corbridge was found unresponsive in her crib by Gooch, who was the boyfriend of Kynlee's mother, according to charging documents. When emergency crews arrived, the infant was "obviously deceased," the charges state.
The officer who arrived at the home noted "several signs of trauma that were concerning to me," including bruising on Kynlee's head, ears and behind her ears, according to charging documents. There were also abrasions to her face.
"Kynlee’s hair and clothing was also very wet with no explanation for this," the charges state.
Investigators believed based on Kynlee's body temperature that she had died sometime the night before, according to charging documents.
Gooch told police that his girlfriend had left the house for an errand on the night of Dec. 14, and that while she was gone "Kynlee was screaming hysterically. … Kyle stated he swaddled Kynlee in a large blue blanket like a burrito by rolling her from one end to the other. Kyle stated this helps calm Kynlee down," according to court documents. He said he placed the baby face down in her crib to sleep.
The next morning, he said he found Kynlee dead in her crib.
Gooch said the injuries to Kynlee's head were caused by her falling while she was learning to walk.
But on April 9, the final autopsy report from the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office was completed. It found "13 different blunt force injuries to the head," the charges state. "Also noted were two blunt force injuries to Kynlee’s torso."
“The constellation of bruises on the ears and back of the head and scalp, combined with the abrasions on the face, are consistent with inflicted pressure as might occur with smothering. Injuries in this area in a child of this age and developmental ability would be very unusual as accidental injuries," the medical examiner's report stated, according to court records.
Investigators then asked a doctor at Primary Children's Hospital for her opinion, and she "explained that all of these injuries are likely nonaccidental and were inflicted by somebody else," the charges state. The doctors from the medical examiner's office and Primary Children's stated they both believed "the death of Kynlee is due to forced smothering," the charges state.
On June 19, Kynlee's mother was interviewed again and told by detectives that "the burns were consistent with somebody forcibly smothering Kynlee's face into the mattress," according to charging documents.
As the interview continued, the mother told police that Gooch "was very controlling" of her and her children and that he would accuse her of making her son weak "by loving on him too much," the charges state. When asked if she believed Gooch was capable of smothering Kynlee, the mother replied, "Yeah, I do," the charges state.
Then when asked to demonstrate how Gooch would discipline her other children, the mother said to make them stop crying, Gooch would "stand behind the children and cover their mouths until they stop crying," charging documents state. During a subsequent interview, she said Gooch was very intoxicated the night Kynlee died.
When Gooch was interviewed by police on June 21, he denied smothering Kynlee.
However, police concluded in their affidavit, "Kyle Gooch is the only person who has ever been placed in the bedroom with Kynlee when placing her to bed. … It is believed that Kyle Gooch committed the aggravated murder of Kynlee Jo Corbridge by forcing Kynlee’s head into her mattress with reckless indifference to human life, causing the death of Kynlee, a child under the age of one year, by forcibly smothering her."
On June 19, the mother filed for a protective order against Gooch, according to court records. On July 9, he was convicted of violating that protective order, court records state. He was also convicted on July 11 of assault in a domestic-violence related case, according to court records.
