Father faces murder charge in death of 5-month-old boy

A father was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death of his 5-month-old son who had adult allergy medication in his system.

Joshua Escobar-Garcia died April 7 at 5:09 p.m. at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, according to the Clark County coroner’s office. His cause and manner of death were still pending Wednesday.

The baby’s father, Enrique Escobar, called police at 4 p.m. from his apartment at 3684 Paradise Road to report the baby was not breathing, according to Escobar’s arrest report from the Metropolitan Police Department released Wednesday.

Police interviewed the baby’s mother, who said she was at work when Escobar was home alone with their 2-year-old daughter and 5-month-old son.

Escobar told police when the mother left for work, he smoked two “bowls” of marijuana and played Xbox. He remembered laying the baby down on his stomach near the foot of the bed before Escobar took a four-hour nap, according to the arrest report. Escobar told police when he woke up the baby had not moved from the foot of the bed and wasn’t breathing.

Escobar said he did not immediately call the police because he feared Child Protective Service would take away their daughter and rule him “an unfit parent,” he told police.

One of the paramedics told police the little girl’s diaper was extremely full when they were trying to revive her brother and she had not been changed in a “significant amount of time,” according to the arrest report.

The arrest report indicated the coroner’s office had found Wal-Dryl, an allergy medication, in the baby’s system. Both parents denied giving the drug to the baby.

Escobar was booked into the Clark County Detention Center on one count of murder.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.