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Babysitter Charged With Manslaughter In Child's Death

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TBO.com

Published: October 31, 2008

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  Gordon Dugger

Polk County detectives charged a babysitter Friday night with aggravated manslaughter of a child.

Detectives say the actions of Gordon Finley Dugger III, 24, directly led to the death of a 15-month-old girl.

On Thursday, he babysat Lily Edwards while her parents were gone from their Lakeland home for the evening. Dugger, who is a family friend of their child's parents, had been residing in their home on Hamilton Road since July, and he had babysat the child before.

Questioned by detectives, he initially said the child was fine when he put her to bed Thursday night but was unresponsive when he saw her Friday morning, deputies said. Later, however, he told detectives he lied about that, deputies said.

Detectives said Dugger tried to calm the crying child about 1:30 a.m. Friday but couldn't. He tried bouncing the girl on his knee and threw her in the air.

"At one point, he told detectives, he threw her approximately 5½ feet into the air and she landed on the back of her head rendering her unconscious," a sheriff's office news release states. "Dugger said he then picked her up and began to shake her attempting to revive her. Dugger then said he began to hit the baby progressively harder in an attempt to revive her. When he could not revive her, he called emergency services."

The baby was taken to Lakeland Regional Medical Center. She was pronounced dead about 2:45 a.m.

The Medical Examiner's Office said Lily Edwards died of head trauma, deputies say.

Dugger was being booked into jail Friday night.

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