NEWS

Slain baby’s dad says he ‘freaked out’

Douglas Walker
dwalker@muncie.gannett.com
  • The father of a slain infant said he ‘freaked out’ after dropping the baby on a hardwood floor.
  • Cory Wallace was arrested Friday and faces six charges stemming from his son’s February death.
  • Authorities say Wallace set fires in his son’s bedroom in a bid to hide the cause of death.
  • Wallace also acknowledged he was responsible for other injuries revealed in an autopsy.

MUNCIE – After giving police “multiple versions” of the events that led to his 5-month-old son’s death, Cory Wallace on Friday finally admitted he had caused the infant’s fatal head injuries, according to an affidavit.

The 22-year-old Wallace — who lived with his wife and their son, Jensen, at 2404 S. Meeker Ave. at the time of the baby’s death — told investigators he “accidentally” dropped the infant onto a hardwood floor in the early morning hours of Feb. 10.

Wallace — at the time on home detention for a Marion County neglect conviction that stemmed from injuries suffered by another baby he fathered — said he “freaked out” and “did not know what to do.”

Rather than administering medical aid, or calling an ambulance, Wallace placed Jensen in his playpen, he told police.

Between 9 and 10 that morning, Wallace said, he checked on his son, and “could tell that (Jensen) had died.”

The father said “again he freaked out and didn’t know what to do.”

About nine hours later, Wallace “decided to set a fire in (the baby’s) room,” apparently hoping to make it appear the child had died as a result of the blaze.

Wallace, now living in Indianapolis, was arrested Friday night and is preliminarily charged with six felonies — neglect of a dependent resulting in death, aggravated battery, battery on a child under the age of 14, arson, attempted abuse of a corpse and obstruction of justice. He was being held in the Delaware County jail on Saturday under a $150,000 bond.

Sheryl Wallace — Cory’s wife and Jensen’s mother — was not arrested on Friday. She is 20 and pregnant, due to give birth to another child in September.

Chief Trial Deputy Prosecutor Eric Hoffman said formal charges would likely be filed against Cory Wallace in coming days.

“Just because Mr. Wallace may be charged doesn’t mean the investigation is closed,” Hoffman said. “This is an active, ongoing investigation. Anything is possible.”

According to the affidavit:

• A forensics pathologist determined Jensen had died before the fire, of “blunt force trauma to the head” that caused fatal brain injuries. There were no indications the baby had inhaled smoke.

The autopsy also revealed the baby had at least two fractured ribs — one suffered recently, another healed — and “abrasions and small cuts” on his back, chest, neck and scalp, apparently inflicted by “human fingernails.”

During Friday’s interview, Cory Wallace apparently admitted he caused some of those injuries when he grabbed the child “too tight,” at times during arguments with his wife.

“I don’t know my own strength,” Wallace told police. He also said it was because of those injuries that he and his wife did not take the baby for his scheduled doctor’s appointments.

• Robert Mead, chief fire investigator for the Muncie Fire Department, reported the cause of the Meeker Avenue fire was “determined to be incendiary,” noting there appeared to be two areas of origins near the playpen where the baby’s body was found.

•Tests conducted at the Federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives laboratory in Quantico, Va., showed that a space heater in the baby’s bedroom had not been the source of the fire.

In a statement, Muncie Police Chief Steve Stewart said the baby’s death was “a senseless, tragic loss of life that has affected our entire community.”

“Many times over the past six months, I was asked about ‘the baby that died on Meeker,’ and I could only say that it was still under investigation,” Stewart said. “Today I can report that Cory Wallace caused the death of Baby Jensen. Although this case is still under investigation, we are confident in charging Corey Wallace with the crimes stated in the probable cause affidavit.”

Stewart praised the efforts of several departments, agencies and individuals involved in the probe, including his department’s “relentless investigators,” Linda Cook, Ryan Winningham, Robert Scaife and Kristopher Swanson.

“Our community should be very proud,” the chief said. “I know I am.”

Both Stewart and, in a Friday night interview, Mead, credited city firefighters with their quick response in extinguishing the Meeker Avenue blaze, in the process preserving key evidence in the case.

Contact news reporter Douglas Walker at (765) 213-5851. You can also follow him on Twitter @DouglasWalkerSP.