[Warning: Potentially Triggering Content]
A 22-year-old father was arrested in central Florida on Tuesday for allegedly beating his 4-month-old daughter to death.
Jacob Kubai (pictured above, mugshot) was arrested by cops in Polk County and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child abuse, and two counts of knowingly abusing a child with bodily harm.
Per a release from the Polk County Sheriff’s Office, Kubai brought his baby daughter Willow to Bartow Regional Medical Center back on February 22. The girl had “no brain activity and suspicious physical injuries,” according to the release. From there, the baby was airlifted to Saint Joseph’s Hospital nearby in Tampa, where she could receive better emergency care. Doctors there quickly discovered that she was suffering from a fractured skull, brain hemorrhaging, multiple broken ribs, and other bruises. Sadly, Willow died two days later.
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Immediately, cops zeroed in on Jacob during their investigation. They spoke to both him and his wife Rebekah — who had been at work when Jacob initially brought the child into the hospital — and neither one could explain the baby’s injuries. Jacob told cops that Willow was with him when he dropped Rebekah off for work around 5:00 p.m. local time on the 22nd. He then claimed he and the baby stopped at a local Walmart before heading home, at which point he supposedly later found the little girl not breathing. But security footage from the Walmart showed that Willow was not with Jacob when he went into the store.
Jacob was arrested as the inconsistencies in his story piled up, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told the media. At first, the young dad appeared “totally lucid,” according to the sheriff. But once detectives told him that he was facing serious charges in the horrific situation, Kubai said:
“None of this is real. My wife’s not real, my baby’s not real.”
Whoa.
Sheriff Judd then went on to add that Kubai spent the interrogation “playing games” with detectives while showing “no remorse” and “no emotion” over the infant’s death. The sheriff also said this in his statement to the media:
“Death investigations can often take many months before they are complete. In this case, the injuries to this beautiful baby girl were so severe that it left no doubt how she was killed. I don’t know how a father could do this to his child, but I do know he should be locked up for as long as the law allows.”
So awful…
Ultimately, the baby’s autopsy confirmed multiple blunt force injuries to the front of her head, as well as spine hemorrhaging, an acute skull fracture, and ten rib fractures. Struggling to make sense of the senseless, Sheriff Judd said:
“Normal society can’t understand this kind of person. Well, I can tell you from a great deal of experience that a lifelong law enforcement officer can’t understand this kind of person either.”
You can see more from Sheriff Judd regarding the awful crime (below):
So, so terrible. There are just no words for a situation like this.
If you have sincere cause to suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org.
[Image via Polk County Sheriff’s Office]
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