Zachary Koehn is facing charges of murder and child endangerment for the death of his 4-month-old son Sterling Daniel Koehn. The prosecution rested their case on Thursday, and now the defendant Koehn is testifying in his own defense. Watch live in the player above.
Authorities say that Koehn called 911 on August 30, 2017, claiming that his girlfriend previously fed the child, who was okay at the time, but then she found the boy dead at some point between 11:00 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. What investigators say seemed to tell a different story. They said they found Sterling dead, with medical examiners saying they found maggots on the child’s body that indicated that he hadn’t been bathed, given a diaper change, or even taken out of his swing seat in more than a week’s time. The child was said to be below the fifth percentile in weight
Investigators discovered a horrifying sight in the victim’s room: Sterling was in his swing-seat dead. Medical examiners determined that he was severely underweight and small for a child his age. He weighed just under seven pounds, and was 14 inches tall, according to the complaint. It was noted that this put him “well below the 5th percentile in size and weight.”
Prosecutors said in the criminal complaint that the child died due to “failure to provide critical care.” They added, “The facts of this case go far beyond neglect and show circumstances manifesting an extreme indifference to human life.”
Koehn faces up to life in prison.
[Image via Chickasaw County’]