A Minnesota man who initially blamed his baby daughter’s death on the family cat was sentenced Tuesday to 15 years in prison for beating her to death.
Kristopher Henderson, 41, made a plea deal with prosecutors in connection with the November 2021 death of his 2-month-old daughter, Adaline, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported.
Henderson took an Alford plea, meaning he refused to admit guilt but acknowledged that a jury would probably convict him of second-degree murder given the evidence in the case, according to the Rochester Post Bulletin.
He’ll get credit for the 526 days of time already served and be eligible for parole after two-thirds of his sentence.
Henderson and his girlfriend, Shelby Goodrich, took Adaline to a hospital near their home in Mankato on Sept. 23, 2021, according to a police report. The baby girl was suffering from brain hemorrhaging, had two broken legs and several broken ribs, doctors said.
“The individual injuries and the collection of injuries are consistent with non-accidental trauma,” a doctor wrote.
Henderson suggested that the family’s cat could’ve been responsible. A doctor told police, “The [20-pound] cat that father states was around the infant is not the cause of these injuries.”
After a series of police interviews, Henderson admitted he struck baby Adaline hard enough to break her ribs.
Goodrich told police that when she left for work in the morning of Sept. 23, Adaline was fine. When she returned home that night, the baby was suffering from obvious injuries. She had been in Henderson’s care all day.
Doctors worked for more than a month trying to save Adaline, but she died from her injuries on Nov. 3, 2021.