For the second time in a week, a young Colorado Springs father has been charged in the death of an infant daughter, continuing to extend the city’s all-time homicide record.
Investigators Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Roderick Elam Jr. in the death of 2-month-old Harmone’e Elam. The man is the seventh Colorado parent or guardian arrested this year on charges involving the death of a child younger than 2.
Officers went to Elam’s home on Westmeadow Drive on Dec. 15 on a call that a child wasn’t breathing, and Harmone’e was declared dead at Memorial Hospital a short time later, according to the Colorado Springs Police Department.
The child died from blunt-force trauma to her head and abdomen, according to an autopsy that prompted the father’s arrest.
The case is similar to the death of Elise Martinez-Mosley on Dec. 14 at the same hospital.
Elise also suffered head trauma, allegedly inflicted by her father, 22-year-old Nicholas Patrick Smith.
He was initially charged with felony child abuse after the injured child was reported to authorities, but the charges were upgraded after her death hours later.
Smith continues to be held without bail in the El Paso County Jail in Colorado Springs.
Elam is being held in the same jail on $250,000 bail on a charge of child abuse resulting in death.
Harmone’e’s death marks the 32nd homicide in Colorado Springs this year, further extending the record number of inflicted deaths in the city. The previous record — 28 — was set twice, in 1991 and 2007.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, homicide is the fourth-leading cause of death for preschool-aged children, with about 8 infant deaths per 100,000 residents each year.
According to the American Journal of Psychology, 61 percent of murdered kids die at the hands of their biological parents, almost evenly split between mothers and fathers.
