Investigators say the July 2025 emergency began with a report that a newborn was not breathing and ended months later with a father’s arrest.
BAYTOWN, Texas — A 911 call for a newborn who was not breathing at an East James Avenue apartment has become a capital murder case against the child’s father, who police say later described throwing and shaking the 7-week-old boy.
The case began as a medical emergency on July 25, 2025, and became a homicide investigation after doctors and forensic officials reviewed the baby’s injuries. Christopher Leon Jenkins, 26, was arrested in April after a months-long inquiry that included witness interviews, hospital records, an autopsy and a police walkthrough inside the apartment.
When medics arrived at the Baytown apartment complex, court records say they found the infant on a mattress with no clothes, no pulse and pink fluid coming from his mouth. The emergency call reported that the baby was choking or not breathing. Responders began treatment, and the child was taken to a hospital before being transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. Doctors there treated him for serious brain injuries and cardiac arrest, according to reports on the affidavit. For a short time, the infant regained breathing, but he died Aug. 1, seven days after the call. That date became central to the homicide case because prosecutors say the injuries that led to his death happened before the 911 call, during a narrow period when Jenkins was the only adult with him.
The baby’s mother told investigators she had been in another apartment nearby with her mother when Jenkins came over and said something was wrong. Court documents say she had given the baby to Jenkins about 20 minutes earlier. At the same time or near the same time, authorities said the child’s grandmother also called 911. The affidavit described a short chain of events: the baby was handed to Jenkins, the mother went to another unit, Jenkins appeared there saying the child was not breathing, and emergency crews were called. Investigators said that sequence placed Jenkins alone with the baby during the period when the fatal injuries were believed to have occurred. The affidavit does not accuse the mother or grandmother of causing the injuries.
Jenkins’ first explanation to police focused on finding the baby already unresponsive, according to the affidavit. Investigators said he told them he had gone outside to smoke while the child slept and returned to find the infant not breathing. As the investigation continued, police said the story changed. Jenkins allegedly suggested he had dropped the baby while feeding him. In another account, he said the baby had been dropped while being taken from a bath. Investigators said those explanations were inconsistent with the medical findings and with later statements. The changing accounts became part of the evidence prosecutors cited when they filed the capital murder charge nearly nine months after the July 2025 incident.
The medical record gave investigators a separate path from the statements. Local reports citing court documents say the Harris County Institute of Forensic Sciences later found that the infant died from blunt force trauma to the head and ruled the manner of death a homicide. FOX 26 reported that documents described subdural hemorrhage and violent acceleration-deceleration forces. Those findings gave prosecutors a basis to allege that the child did not die from a routine accident or sudden medical condition. They also shaped the focus of the police interviews, which moved from the emergency call to what happened in the apartment before Jenkins went to the nearby unit for help.
A neighbor’s account added another piece to the timeline. According to the affidavit, the witness said she heard Jenkins yelling at the baby while the infant cried. The witness said she heard him tell the child to “shut up,” and that the crying stopped shortly afterward. The witness also told investigators about a previous incident in which she saw Jenkins pushing the baby in a stroller and lifting the child with one arm after he began crying. Police did not say the witness saw the July 25 injuries occur. The statement instead gave investigators a description of what could be heard from outside the room before the emergency call and before the baby was found without a pulse.
During a police walkthrough, investigators used a doll designed for infant death investigations and asked Jenkins to show how he handled the child, according to the affidavit. Jenkins allegedly asked whether he could throw the doll, then threw it onto the bed while describing what he said happened to the baby. He told investigators the baby “bounced so high,” flipped or moved across the bed and landed on the floor. Police said he then described crawling over the bed, picking the infant up from the floor and putting him back on the bed. Jenkins allegedly demonstrated shaking the doll’s chest area while saying he was checking whether the baby was still alive.
Investigators also reported admissions tied to the baby’s crying. Jenkins allegedly told police, “There was too much crying in my mind,” and said, “It just clicked.” Other reports say he told investigators he became a little angry and lost his head when the baby would not stop crying. Those words are expected to matter because they speak to Jenkins’ alleged state of mind, while the medical evidence speaks to the child’s injuries. Prosecutors do not have to prove every public detail in the affidavit at this stage, but they will need to prove the elements of the charge in court. Jenkins’ attorney said he had not entered a plea as of the early reports and said the defense looked forward to defending him.
The arrest came in late April, after forensic findings and court filings were complete enough for prosecutors to proceed. Jenkins was booked into the Harris County Jail, where reports differed on whether records listed him as held without bond or on a high bond, but local court reporting said a judge denied bond and set further no-bond proceedings. At an early hearing, a judge found probable cause, allowing the capital murder case to continue. Prosecutors had not publicly said whether they would seek the death penalty. That decision can affect the pace and direction of a capital case, including the filings, defense preparation and possible trial schedule.
Baytown, east of Houston, is served by Harris County courts and local police agencies that often send serious felony cases into the county criminal justice system. This case centers on one apartment, one brief stretch of time and a child who survived for seven days after being found unresponsive. The records describe no public motive beyond Jenkins’ alleged frustration with crying. They also leave some facts unresolved, including exactly what happened between the baby landing on the floor, the alleged shaking and the 911 call. Those gaps are likely to be examined as the case moves through discovery and hearings.
The capital murder charge against Jenkins remains pending, and the official account is still based on court documents and police allegations. The next phase is expected to test the statements, medical findings and timeline in Harris County court as prosecutors and defense lawyers prepare for further hearings.
Author note: Last updated May 20, 2026.