Montgomery County District Attorney Kevin Steele has announced first, second and third-degree murder charges against a 29-year-old Lower Providence man who stands accused of raping his infant daughter.
Austin Stevens, of the 3400 block of Germantown Pike, was arrested in early October on felony charges of aggravated assault, rape – forcible compulsion, rape of a child, involuntary deviate sexual intercourse, aggravated indecent assault, endangering the welfare of a child and related offenses in connection with the death of his 10-month-old daughter, Zara Scruggs.
According to the criminal complaint, Lower Providence Police were dispatched to 3454 Germantown Pike on Oct. 3 at 10:40 p.m. for a report of an unresponsive infant. Upon arrival, police found the infant and her father, identified as Stevens, and immediately began CPR on the unresponsive infant. The victim was transported to Einstein Medical Center Montgomery via ambulance, but she was pronounced dead at 12:12 a.m. on Oct. 4.
Police immediately began an investigation into the infant’s death, which included the execution of a search warrant to download the contents of Stevens’ phone, the report states. The download of the phone showed that Stevens’ had conducted multiple Google searches nearly an hour before calling 9-1-1, including queries for “if baby stopped breathing,” “what if you don’t hear baby heart or beat” and “how do you know if a baby is dead,” police said.
Police also recovered a diaper that was worn by the infant while she was being transported to the hospital, which investigators said was saturated with blood, the report states.
On Oct. 4, an autopsy was conducted that determined the infant was the victim of a sexual assault, in which she sustained anal rectal trauma and blunt force trauma to the head, the report states. The cause of death had been listed as pending, but following the return of additional forensic testing results, Skruggs death has been ruled a homicide.
“The Coroner’s Office’s ruling that this 10-month-old baby’s death was homicide confirms what our investigation showed: Zara died a deeply disturbing death at the hands of her father. Stevens will have to answer to murder charges,” said DA Steele.
Stevens will attend a preliminary hearing on the additional murder charges at 1 p.m. on Dec. 1 in front of Magisterial District Judge Cathleen Rebar. He remains remanded to the Montgomery County Correctional Facility on $1 million cash bail from the first set of charges.
(All suspects and defendants are innocent until proven guilty. This story was compiled using court records and the affidavit of probable cause.)
See also:
Lower Providence Man Accused Of Raping Infant Daughter: Police
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Montco DA: Five Charged In Gun Trafficking Investigation
