Infant Hospitalized With Brain Bleed as Father Faces Shaking Allegations

A man has been charged with aggravated child abuse in connection with the serious brain injuries that his seven-month-old son sustained in February.

Anthony Lamar Hester, 31, was arrested and booked into Volusia County Jail on April 17, according to jail records acquired by People.

Authorities said the father “willfully tortured, maliciously punished, (and) knowingly or willfully committed child abuse,” that injured his infant son, according to the probable cause affidavit obtained by the outlet.

On Feb. 20, a Volusia County Sheriff’s Office detective responded to a call from a social worker reporting child abuse at the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children.

When the detective contacted the hospital’s child protection team coordinator and the Child Protective Services (CPS) investigator, he was told that the alleged victim was in surgery for a brain bleed.

Detectives then interviewed the child’s mother, Jessica Newkirk, and Hester. According to People, the couple also each have daughters from previous relationships.

Newkirk told investigators that during her pregnancy, it was discovered that her baby had subdural fluid collections and was born one month premature. The condition can make “an infant more vulnerable to further brain injury,” per the affidavit.

Newkirk recalled that at the boy's fourth-month check-up in November 2025, his head had grown larger, and a CT scan “confirmed fluid on the brain.” Newkirk was instructed to monitor, and at the January 2026 check-up, doctors discovered a “bleed on the brain.”

“Doctors asked Jessica if anything had occurred at home, which would account for the bleeding, but Jessica knew of nothing,” per the affidavit.

Newkirk explained that the infant bumped his forehead on his parents' headboard on Feb. 12. He briefly cried, but “otherwise appeared normal.”

Newkirk said that on Feb. 15, the boy was vomiting, so she took him to AdventHealth Orlando. There, he was given a CT scan, which showed “nothing of concern,” and it was determined he was dehydrated.

Newkirk’s daughter told detectives that when her mother worked at night, Hester was responsible for the children, and he allegedly “would typically leave (the child) in his swing located in the living room, while he would be in the garage drinking or watching TV.”

When the child would cry, Hester would allegedly become frustrated and scream loudly: “Why are you crying” and “Boys don’t cry.”

Newkirk’s daughter claimed that when the baby “would cry to the point where (Hester) would become increasingly frustrated, (Hester) would shake (the victim) vigorously with his hands while screaming.”

The investigation concluded on April 7, and the child protection team doctor allegedly “concluded with positive findings for physical abuse of (the victim) by his father.”

“(The victim) was already known to have subdural fluid collections, a condition which medical professionals note can make an infant more vulnerable to further brain injury,” the affidavit reads.

Further, reading, “Shaking an infant with existing intracranial fluid can cause the brain to move more freely inside the skull, increasing susceptibility to injury from even lower levels of force. Additionally, a condition involving fluid on the brain can itself be caused or worsened by repeated episodes of shaking, as described by the child witnesses.”

Hester is set to appear in court for his arraignment on May 21.