Infant Dead After Allegedly Given Fireball Whiskey To 'Pass Out'

Christina Davis and Kevin McCall, parents from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, are facing charges after investigators accused them of chronic child neglect, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law & Crime and WISN. The couple was arrested on Feb. 23 after authorites discovered their 1-year-old child “pulseless” and “nonbreathing” inside their home the previous day.

Both Davis and McCall were charged with two counts of chronic neglect of a child and remain in custody at the Milwaukee County Jail on $10,000 bond. They are scheduled to return to court on May 29.

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Christina Davis and Kevin McCall allegedly admitted to not feeding, checking on, or changing the child on the day of the incident. 

According to complaints obtained by Law&Crime and WISN, officers responded to a residence on Feb. 22 after receiving a report of a “pulseless nonbreathing child.” When first responders arrived, they encountered 30-year-old Kevin McCall and 23-year-old Christina Davis standing on the front porch with the 1-year-old victim.

Investigators alleged that McCall had been home throughout the day but “never fed” the child nor did he change the infant after Davis left for work. Per Law & Crime, Davis also admitted that she did not change the baby’s diaper or feed the infant on the day of the incident.  Shockingly, McCall also reportedly acknowledged that he never checked on the infant. Authorities stated that the baby was “covered in urine and feces” when hospital staff examined the body, Law & Crime noted. They also described the residence as having a “strong odor” and being “unkempt,” according to the report from WISN.

Paramedics and hospital staff attempted lifesaving measures, but the complaint states that rigor mortis had already begun to set in. The child was later pronounced dead at the hospital, though an official cause of death was not immediately determined.

Davis allegedly told investigators that she and McCall woke up around 9:30 a.m. and checked on both the infant and Davis’ 6-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. After confirming the children were asleep, the pair reportedly left the home to get Popeyes.

Later that afternoon, around 2 p.m., Davis returned home from work and allegedly found her daughter standing in a corner as punishment for reportedly taking a TV remote. McCall admitted to police that he also “whooped” the child. While McCall repaired a video game controller, he asked Davis to check on the baby. According to police, Davis discovered the infant was “stiff” and that the child’s eyes were rolling back into their head before telling McCall to call 911.

Davis further told investigators that she relied on her 6-year-old daughter to help care for the home because McCall “does not provide any assistance.” Court documents cited by WISN and Law & Crime also allege that McCall admitted the couple had left the children home alone repeatedly — “at least 25 times in the past six to seven months” although she knew it was “wrong.”

Davis’ daughter accused her mother of giving the 1-year-old victim Fireball whiskey to make the baby “pass out.”

According to the complaint, detectives later interviewed Davis’ 6-year-old daughter. She reportedly told investigators that Davis and McCall frequently left her alone to babysit the 1-year-old. The child also claimed that the day before the infant’s death, she saw her mother prepare a bottle containing “medicine” intended to make the baby “pass out.” She then showed detectives the alleged “medicine,” which police identified as a 50 mL bottle of Fireball whiskey.

The girl reportedly told investigators, “I don’t think it is medicine.”

Police said another empty bottle of Fireball whiskey was also discovered inside the home.

A cause of death for the infant has yet to be determined.

When questioned about the alcohol, Davis denied giving whiskey to the baby and insisted she only provided “cold and flu medication, not alcohol.” Investigators also stated that during a jail phone call, Davis told her mother that what her 6-year-old daughter told detectives “was a lie.”

According to the complaint, the medical examiner found no evidence of “trauma, illness, or infection” that clearly explained the child’s death. An investigation is still ongoing. 

“At this time, evidence has not been presented to a trier of fact; therefore, the defendant is presumed innocent,” McCall’s attorney Russell Jones said in a statement to PEOPLE. “That presumption remains unless a trier of facts finds otherwise, beyond a reasonable doubt. Therefore, I encourage all concerned to wait until the evidence is presented before passing judgment.”

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to http://www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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