FAYETTEVILLE -- A 40-year-old Prairie Grove man was arrested Friday in connection with the death of his two-week-old son.
Mark Weldon Lewis faces a first-degree murder charge in the death of Jessie Kenneth Lewis at the family home at 203 S. Baggett St., Apt. 6, in Prairie Grove, according to a police report.
Prairie Grove police received a call reporting a dead baby at 8:25 p.m. Thursday. Officers and Central Emergency Medical Services personnel found the infant on a living room couch.
The Washington County coroner noted possible injury to the baby's skull, according to the report. The baby's body temperature was 72.5 degrees, the same as the room temperature.
Mark Weldon Lewis was in jail Thursday because he had been arrested early Wednesday on a warrant for failure to appear after police found him walking along a highway in Farmington. He was booked into the Washington County jail Wednesday afternoon.
Police said the baby's mother, Angela Lewis, 36, had been in a local hospital since March 21 being treated for complications from childbirth. Police said she became concerned about the baby when she learned of Mark Lewis' arrest and checked herself out of the hospital Thursday.
Angela Lewis and her mother, Wanda McCain, found the baby in the apartment and called 911.
Mark Lewis was interviewed in the jail and told police he had been caring for the baby alone. Lewis told police that on Tuesday the baby was laying on the couch and had not been sick or crying, according to the report.
Lewis told police he became frustrated and punched the baby on the head, the report states. He then packed some clothes and left the apartment. After locking the apartment, Lewis told police, he threw away the key.