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Uncle Charged In Death Of Lakeland Toddler

News Channel 8 photo by ANTHONY ALLRED

Earl and Clarissa Johnson gave interviews Sunday in front of the Lakeland home where their son, Zachary, (in photo) stayed and was found dead.

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By RAY REYES | The Tampa Tribune
and NATALIE SHEPHERD | News Channel 8

Published: March 15, 2009

Updated: 03/15/2009 11:54 pm

Related Links

• About Shaken Baby Syndrome
• Arrest Made

Matthew Robert Wyrosdick

LAKELAND - After months of legal troubles, Earl and Clarissa Johnson were about to regain custody of their children.

On Thursday, though, a month before they were to be reunited, Lakeland police say their youngest son, 17-month-old Zachary, was brutally beaten and killed by his uncle, Matthew Wyrosdick.

"He's a murderer," Earl Johnson said Sunday. "He shook my son to death. That's what he admitted to, and I believe he struck him in the head."

Wyrosdick, 32, was arrested Sunday and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child. He is being held without bail at the Polk County Jail.

Lakeland police detectives gave this account of what happened at Wyrosdick's apartment at 3520 Cleveland Heights Boulevard Thursday morning:

Angry that Zachary wouldn't sit down at a child-size picnic table, Wyrosdick picked up the toddler and shook him so hard his head snapped back and forth.

Wyrosdick put Zachary back on the seat, but the boy fell and hit his head on the corner of a coffee table. He said he shook the boy again and marched him to a door where the boy's head struck a stair railing twice. He also said he dropped Zachary on the floor three times.

Zachary was taken to Tampa General Hospital, where a doctor determined the injuries were not consistent with Wyrosdick's explanation, police say. The child died Friday, two hours after Wyrosdick gave his first videotaped demonstrations to police of how Zachary was hurt.

Wyrosdick initially told 911 dispatchers that the boy had fallen from the picnic table.

When neighbor Iris Scandrick saw the ambulance's flashing lights outside her apartment Thursday, she feared the worst for Zachary and his older brother, Austin.

"I had my ear to the wall, and I could hear the kids screaming," said Scandrick, who lives next door to Wyrosdick and his wife, Mysti.

Scandrick said she walked up to Wyrosdick, who was sitting speechless on a patch of grass.

"I stood over him and said, 'You know I heard you slamming that baby around.'"

Wyrosdick didn't answer her, Scandrick said.

Johnson said he and his wife couldn't care for Zachary and Austin, 2, because the couple spent two months in the Hillsborough County Jail on charges of grand theft auto, fraud and petty theft. The Johnsons were released from jail Sept. 12.

Since then, the Johnsons have been working with the state Department of Children & Families to get custody of Zachary and Austin, DCF spokeswoman Carrie Hoeppner said.

The children were placed with the Wyrosdicks because they were the only relatives who passed a DCF background check, the Johnsons said. Children usually only go into foster care when relatives are not available, Hoeppner said.

Scandrick, the Wyrosdicks' neighbor, said she reported possible abuse to DCF in early March, but Hoeppner said her agency received no complaints about the Wyrosdicks.

Zachary's older brother, Austin, does not have any injuries and is back with his parents, Hoeppner said.

Shaking infants and young children can lead to brain damage, blindness, seizures, spinal cord injuries and other problems. Even though the dangers are well-publicized, incidents such as Thursday's are still all too common, child safety advocates say.

There's no typical profile of who might snap and violently shake a child to the point of irreparable damage or death, said Jay Lapham, associate executive director of the Texas-based Shaken Baby Alliance. Most of those charged have poor impulse control or are ill-equipped to deal with kids, he said.

Young men, including fathers and boyfriends, account for 67 percent of people accused of violently shaking infants or young children, according to Child Help, an Arizona-based foundation for child abuse prevention. Paid caregivers account for 14 percent of cases, and mothers 9 percent.

Shaking a child to the point that it sustains injuries consistent with what's called Shaken Baby Syndrome isn't just a lapse in judgment, Lapham said.

"Anybody who would see it would know, 'Hey, you're going to kill the kid.' It's just way over the top. It's just so far extreme that you wouldn't hesitate to call 911 if you saw this happening."

Zachary's dad said the last time he saw his son was in a hospital's intensive care unit.

"I remember him laying on life support, brain dead," Johnson said. "That's the last time I got to see him. He didn't hurt anybody. He was a happy baby. He was happy."

Editor's note: An earlier version of this story incorrectly attributed a statement to a DCF spokeswoman: "The children were placed with the Wyrosdicks because they were the only relatives who passed a DCF background check." The information actually came from the children's parents.

Reporter Ray Reyes can be reached at (813) 259-7920.

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