Alcoholic Dad With Reckless Behavior Charged With Murder For Suffocating Infant With Pacifier

A 28-year-old Ohio man and father of a four-month-old infant has been charged with aggravated murder after his daughter was suffocated to death. The incident dates back to 2023 when authorities had responded to a paramedic alert for an unresponsive infant.

The Licking County Sheriff’s Department had enacted as the local law enforcement that deduced the suspect’s character for having a deficient track record. Family members later revealed that the father was frequently negligent in taking care of the baby, as he instead partook in drinking, playing video games, and staying up late.

When paramedics arrived to check on an unresponsive infant at a home on Crestview Drive in Utica, they suspected foul play almost immediately. The child was rushed to the nearest emergency room at the Licking Memorial Hospital, where she was pronounced dead. It was the paramedics who reportedly noticed the suspicious nature of the injuries on the infant’s body.

The accused father, Chance Terrence Topp, preliminarily told the investigators that he was tasked to look after the baby as her mother was at work. He claimed to be asleep when he allegedly heard the infant gasping for air since she had a pacifier in her mouth. Top remarked that he picked up the baby from her crib and started performing CPR. However, it was untrue.

An autopsy on the months-old infant later cemented this very fact. The Licking County Coroner declared the child’s death a homicide caused by asphyxia. The report further noted blaring red marks on her neck as well as some kind of bruising on her jawline. On the other hand, the infant’s toxicology report revealed that she tested positive for delta-8 THC.

With Topp becoming the prime suspect, a months-long investigation began to unearth the actual cause of death of the infant. Investigators who spoke with the family found out that Topp regularly stayed up late, drank excessive alcohol, and was frustrated with taking care of the infant.

Court documents reveal that on the day of the crime, the remaining family members heard the infant screaming. They were worried and reportedly confronted Topp, saying, “What did you do?” However, the accused rejected any help from the family and denied his crime.

Later investigators concluded that Topp was frustrated with the baby crying and desperately wanted to go back to sleep. As a result, he intentionally used excessive force to hold the pacifier to the child’s mouth, causing her to suffocate and die.

The Licking County Sheriff, in his statement over the crime, mentioned how the accused continuously lied to the investigators about the timeline of events. He did it to avoid suspicion or arrest, and thus repeatedly changed his narrative during the different rounds of the interview.

It was finally that he admitted killing the child, after making use of too much force on the baby’s pacifier, until she went unresponsive. More than two years after the incident, Chance Terrence Topp was charged once the local grand jury returned the 13-count indictment against him.

The charges to the 28-year-old father also include strangulation, domestic violence, reckless homicide, and falsification. Additionally, he faces two counts each of murder, involuntary manslaughter, and endangering children. Currently, Topp is held in custody at the Licking County Jail. He has a $200,000 bond to his name. His murder trial is set to begin on July 27.