The child, whose name was not immediately released, was taken in an ambulance to Springfield Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, Clark County Sheriff Gene Kelly said.
Bruises and other visible signs of abuse and neglect were seen on the baby, he said.
“Every effort to save this child was made,” Kelly said, “and this child did not make it.”
The baby’s parents, Brian Lee Spencer Jr., 20, and Shania Delawder, 19, have been lodged in the Clark County Jail, Kelly said, and will appear in Clark County Municipal Court this morning.
Spencer was recently released from prison, Kelly said, and he was also charged with domestic violence stemming from a dispute that took place on Tuesday involving Delawder.
Kelly did not know if Delawder had any criminal history.
The couple had stayed at the motel three days this week, Drake Motel Employee Connie Bond said. She was on her way to work Thursday morning when she heard calls for help, she said.
“I ran down there, and the baby was laying on his back with his little fists clenched, and he wasn’t moving,” she said.
She made sure 911 was called, she said. Dispatchers instructed the callers to place the baby on a flat surface and begin CPR, according to a 911 call to the Clark County Sheriff’s Office. A deputy arrived on scene within a minute of the call being placed, Kelly said, because the sheriff has an office nearby.
The deputy tried his best to save the baby, Bond said, but was too late.
“I believe he was already gone because he was purple, completely,” she said.
An investigation into the baby’s death is ongoing, Kelly said, and an autopsy report will be necessary to determine the cause of death.
The sheriff’s office has received several calls to the Drake Motel in the past, Kelly previously told the Springfield News-Sun, mostly for drugs and prostitution.
Motel employees have been working for the past year to make it safer, Bond said, by denying anyone who appears to be using drugs.
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