Father charged in homicide of 15-month-old
A Coeur d’Alene man was charged Thursday with first-degree murder for his alleged role in the Jan. 14 death of his 15-month-old son.
Barry Lane McAdoo, 30, didn’t react at the Kootenai County Jail as 1st District Court Judge Penny Friedlander told him he faces either life in prison or the death penalty plus a $50,000 fine if jurors find him guilty of inflicting the head injury that killed Brandon Lewis McAdoo.
McAdoo, who was using a wheelchair and recovering from the amputation this week of both his legs below the knee, apparently didn’t hear Friedlander and needed the possible penalties repeated. Friedlander also revoked bail set for $200,000 before the murder charge and decided to hold McAdoo without bail at the request of Ken Brooks, a deputy prosecuting attorney.
McAdoo appeared healthy except for bandages on his legs. Kootenai County sheriff’s Capt. Ben Wolfinger said McAdoo wandered in the woods for nearly three days after his girlfriend, Angela Cowles, called for help Jan. 14 for Brandon. Deputies reported Cowles claimed she’d slipped on ice and fallen on her baby.
Brandon died later that day at Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane, where doctors told deputies the baby’s injuries weren’t consistent with Cowles’ story. Cowles then said Brandon was hurt while he was in McAdoo’s care. Police didn’t locate McAdoo until Monday.
McAdoo told investigators he’d swallowed 50 sleeping pills and eaten an entire box of d-Con rat poison before he left the travel trailer he shared with Cowles and Brandon at the Monte Vista Motel and RV Park in Coeur d’Alene. He went to Kootenai Medical Center on Jan. 17 and asked for treatment under an alias, Barry Swendt. He was treated and released with injuries the hospital won’t identify for confidentiality reasons.
KMC staff didn’t recognize McAdoo or the name he used. Wolfinger said they apparently considered him a transient and gave him a voucher for a taxi ride to a homeless shelter. The voucher was returned to KMC with a $60 charge, which Wolfinger said indicates McAdoo traveled to Spokane.
McAdoo’s whereabouts until Jan. 21 are unknown to deputies. He checked himself into Sacred Heart Medical Center that day. His frostbite was so bad that doctors amputated both his legs below the knee. On Monday, a hospital employee recognized McAdoo. The Kootenai County Sheriff’s Office was called and sent two deputies to interview him.
Court records state that McAdoo told sheriff’s Sgt. Dan Mattos that Brandon had choked on a piece of plastic grocery bag, McAdoo had removed the plastic and then thrown the baby in the air trying to revive him. McAdoo said he dropped Brandon while he was throwing him and that Brandon began to breathe after he hit the floor.
Brandon’s condition deteriorated for two days until Cowles called for help. That’s when McAdoo swallowed the pills and rat poison, he said.
“I saw my son laying there and I didn’t want to live,” he told Mattos.
Under pressure from Mattos, McAdoo admitted he’d lost his temper.
“I pushed him and he fell down and hit his head. He was standing on the bed, I pushed him and he fell against the side of the wall,” court documents show McAdoo told Mattos.
McAdoo was extradited and delivered to the Kootenai County Jail on Wednesday.
“He’s being held in the medical wing at the jail. There’s a nursing staff here and a doctor,” Wolfinger said. “He won”t be without professional care.”