Monday 8 November 2010

SIDS: initial diagnosis reversed

COPPERAS COVE - Joseph Allsop was arrested in Pierce County, Wash. in connection with the death of his daughter last Friday and is now charged with Capital Murder.
The charge stems from a January 27, 2005 unattended death case out of Copperas Cove. Five-month-old Jade Allsop was found dead at 12:45 a.m. by Joseph Allsop that night. According to the arrest affidavit, Allsop ran outside that night screaming that his child was not breathing.
"There is never anything happy, or anything but sad, tragic or mad when it comes to the death of a child," Coryell County District Attorney David Castillo said.
Originally it was thought that Jade died from "Sudden Infant Death Syndrome," (SIDS) an autopsy was conducted in 2005 on the child with the findings of "undetermined" for the cause and manner of death. The autopsy was performed by the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Science, Dallas, Texas.
But that was not the case according to the affidavit. That night, supposedly Allsop restricted the baby's air way while he sexually assaulted her.
In August, detectives from Guadalupe County, Texas began an investigation concerning a sexual assault where Allsop was named as the suspect after it was reported in June of 2010.
Special Agents of the Army's Criminal Investigations Division, at the request of Guadalupe County Detectives, interviewed Allsop on the allegations at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington where he was stationed as a Specialist in the U.S. Army since 2007.
During the interview, Allsop confessed to sexually assaulting"numerous young children," one of them being his now deceased daughter.
Authorities said it is believed that a sexual assault of his daughter is the contributing factor in her death. The daughter was five months of age at the time of her death.
During this investigation it was discovered that Allsop is a convicted sex offender. His conviction was as a juvenile in the State of Oregon. Allsop subsequently moved to Texas where at the age of 18 he was to register as a "sex offender" but failed to ever do so.
The Coryell County District Attorney's office in cooperation with Guadalupe County will determine if any further charges will be filed against Allsop dealing with other victims.
The Coryell County District Attorney's Office is waiting to extradite Allsop, but it's not clear when exactly he'll be brought back to Central Texas, it depends on if he plans to fight the move.

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