Lawrence County father accused of abusing baby daughter

Feb. 15—MOUNT VERNON, Mo. — A Marionville man who purportedly attributed his abuse of his 5-month-old daughter to "a spurt of blood rage" has been ordered bound over for trial on charges of child abuse and statutory rape of the baby's underage mother.

Zachary Bridwell, 23, waived a preliminary hearing Thursday in Lawrence County Circuit Court and was ordered to stand trial on counts of first-degree assault, child abuse, sexual exploitation of a minor and second-degree statutory rape. The court set his initial appearance in a trial division for March 11.

Aurora-Marionville police and state child abuse investigators were notified Jan. 3 of a 5-month-old baby admitted to Mercy Hospital Springfield with head injuries associated with shaken-baby syndrome and extensive bruising. The baby later suffered a stroke and had to be put on a ventilator in the hospital's pediatrics intensive care unit, according to a probable-cause affidavit.

Bridwell initially attributed the bruising to his daughter striking herself with a pacifier and his efforts to save her from choking. But he later admitted to physically abusing the baby on multiple occasions by slamming her down in a crib and shaking her, according to the affidavit.

Police also learned that Bridwell and an underage girl were the parents of the baby and that he admitted having had sexual intercourse with her several times over the preceding months and had taken nude photographs of her and made a video of them having sex, according to the affidavit.