Man sought for hurting baby arrested in Killeen

A man accused of causing “serious bodily injury” to his baby has been taken into custody, weeks after police gave him the opportunity to turn himself in.

The city said in a press release Thursday that 19-year-old Richard Blythe was arrested in Kileen Monday by the Lone Star Fugitive Task Force on charges of injury to a child/serious bodily injury.

The baby’s mother, Maudicella Cabello-Perez, was arrested Jan. 10 for failing to prevent the abuse, which included several rib and skull fractures and lacerations to the liver of the nine-month-old girl. Police had previously interviewed Blythe, who pled guilty to a similar offense in 2016. The former Kyle resident received deferred adjudication for that offense.

Police first became aware of the case Nov. 4 of last year, when they were summoned by personnel at Dell Children’s Hospital. The baby had been admitted for vomiting, but examinations revealed three skull fractures, eight broken ribs and the liver damage. 

SMPD Detective Robert Elrod wrote in affidavits for the mother’s arrest that Blythe admitted responsibility. “He explained that he would get angry and lose control when he was watching her,” Elrod wrote of the interview. “He said he caused the laceration to the liver and the rib fractures by holding (the baby) with both hands and squeezing her as hard as he could.”

Elrod went on to say Blythe admitted causing the skull fractures by causing the baby’s head to hit the side of her car seat as well as by placing his hand on her head and slamming it into the car seat.

The city’s press release mentioned that Blythe “had been scheduled to turn himself in when he fled the area,” and that he should be brought back to Hays County within the next few weeks.

Cabello-Perez has since been released from custody. At the time of her arrest, the couple’s baby was still in the hospital. The city has not provided any updates on her condition.