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Pasco Man Charged With Death Of Infant Daughter

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 27, 2009

Updated: 01/27/2009 10:29 am

PORT RICHEY - A 24-year-old father of twin baby girls was arrested at his home Monday evening, accused of killing one of the infants in December after apparently being bothered by her cries, according to a Pasco Sheriff's Office report.

Thomas James Ludwig, of 9845 Richwood Lane, now faces a first-degree murder charge. He is being held without bail at the Land O' Lakes Jail.

Ludwig's roommates told detectives when he arrived home, then at 9914 Richwood Lane, around 8 p.m. on Dec. 20 one of the 2-month-old girls was crying so he put his daughters down to sleep and left the bedroom.

Shortly after, Ludwig went back into the bedroom with a roommate following and he "snatched" one of the babies from a stroller, popping her head backwards, a report states.

Ludwig, according to the report, then forcefully put the baby – named Diella Ludwig - on the bed, called her an expletive and told her to shut up.

The roommate went back to her room but at some point witnesses heard a loud banging noise and then the infant girl stopped crying, the report states.

Around this time, the roommates noticed a nearby house was on fire and went to check it out and Ludwig followed, according to the report, leaving his twin daughters alone inside.

Once they returned to the home about 10 minutes later, Ludwig went into his room and screamed, prompting a roommate to run into the room and see one of the twins lying motionless on a pillow on the floor. She scooped up the baby and ran to paramedics who were outside at the house fire. The baby wasn't breathing.

The next day, the infant died at St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa.

An autopsy conducted by an associate medical examiner in Hillsborough concluded the baby died as a result of significant blunt head trauma with skull fractures and hemorrhages. The manner of death was ruled a homicide.

According to detectives, Ludwig said he was the sole caregiver to his daughters that day and that one of his daughters had been cranky just before her nap, a report states.

The surviving twin , Shiloh Ludwig, has been removed from the home, said sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll, who would not comment on whether any abuse is suspected on that baby.

The girls were born while their mother, Nicholle West, was in prison in on Oct. 15. West, 30, is currently serving a year-and-a-day sentence at the Lowell Correction Institute for a grand theft conviction out of Hillsborough. She is scheduled to be released in September.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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