(Stephen Dethrage)
(Stephen Dethrage)
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One infant girl is dead and another is in critical condition in a Birmingham hospital in two "tragic, unrelated" cases of extreme abuse in Tuscaloosa County.

In a press conference Tuesday afternoon, Captain Jack Kennedy of the Tuscaloosa Violent Crimes Unit detailed two coincidentally similar cases.

In the first, investigators were called to DCH Regional Medical Center Saturday afternoon on a report of a 19-month-old girl there with significant head trauma.

Kennedy said the child was airlifted to Children's of Birmingham hospital, where she remains in critical condition with life-threatening injuries.

Police were able to determine that the girl's mother left her alone with a male acquaintance at her home in Broadmoore Gardens Apartments, and that she sustained her injuries during the time they were alone there.

The suspect, 28-year-old Felix Tabb, was located and arrested Monday night. He was charged with first-degree assault, but Kennedy said the child is on life support and if she does not survive, the charges against Tabb will be upgraded appropriately.

(Violent Crimes Unit)
(Violent Crimes Unit)
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In the second case, sheriff's deputies were called to a home in Coker Monday afternoon after a man called for medical help for another 19-month-old girl.

Once again, detectives determined that the child had been left in the care of her mother's boyfriend while the mother was away at work. The boyfriend told first responders that he found the infant breathing irregularly, but Kennedy said medical reports and physical evidence indicate the child died as a result of severe abuse, assault or trauma.

Police arrested the boyfriend, 31-year-old John Thompson,  and charged him with capital murder Tuesday afternoon. He was taken to the Tuscaloosa County Jail, where he will be held without bond.

(Violent Crimes Unit)
(Violent Crimes Unit)
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Kennedy urged all parents in the area to be extremely cautious about the people they trust to look over their children, especially infants, and decried the senselessness of these crimes.

Stay tuned to this site and station for more information as it becomes available.

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