Police have arrested a Marydel man in connection with the homicide of a 4-month-old boy. The Caroline County Sheriff’s Office said that on March 3 deputies responded to a home on Cool Spring Road in Marydel to investigate a report of a 4-month-old boy who was not breathing. Caroline County Emergency Medical Services personnel found the victim in cardiac arrest who was then transported by ambulance to Kent General Hospital where he was pronounced dead. An autopsy conducted by the Delaware State Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide due to blunt force trauma to the head.

An investigation conducted by the detectives with the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office resulted in the arrest of 26-year-old Justin Alexander Bradley, who was charged with first-degree child abuse leading to death and manslaughter. He is being held in the Caroline County Detention Center in lieu of $1-million bond. Police said Bradley lived at the home with the victim, but was not the victim’s biological father. According to investigators, there also were two other children ages two and seven present in the home at the time of this investigation. Both children were placed with family members by the Department of Social Services.