IOWA FALLS, Iowa – A Waukee man was arrested Tuesday in connection with the death in March of his 6-month-old son.
Nicholas Edward Cox, 22, of Waukee was charged with first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death.
The death occurred March 2, 2021, in the 500 block of Washington Avenue in Iowa Falls, where officers of the Iowa Falls Police Department and the Hardin County EMS responded to a 911 call.
According to a statement release Wednesday by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, the baby was unresponsive when authorities arrived, and efforts to resuscitate the child were unsuccessful. The baby was transported to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
An autopsy by the office of the Iowa Medical Examiner determined the cause of death was homicide as a result of “blunt force trauma to the neck and spinal column as well as asphyxiation,” according to court records.
The examination “also showed petechia and other hemorrhaging of the eye as well as other bruises and wounds that were in the process of healing,” according to court records.
Cox moved from Iowa Falls to Waukee in the months following the infant’s death. A warrant for his arrest was ordered Sept. 21 in Hardin County District Court and served Sept. 21.
Cox is held in the Hardin County Jail on a $1,050,000 cash-only bond. He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Oct. 1 in Hardin County District Court.
*A criminal charge is merely an accusation, and the defendant is presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty.
