‘Bleeding within the eyes’: Father beat 2-month-old son into ‘multiple brain bleeds’ and fractures across his body, authorities say

Inset: Jaravion Nichols (Peoria County Jail). Background: The Peoria County Jail in Peoria, Ill., (Peoria County Sheriff”s Office). 

A man in Illinois is accused of hurting his 2-month-old boy so badly the child was bleeding from his brain and had fractures all over his body.

Jaravion Nichols, 20, has been charged with aggravated battery to a child, the City of Peoria Police Department announced.

The defendant was indicted on Tuesday and booked into the Peoria County Jail with no bond.

On Dec. 12, 2025, at about 5 p.m., Peoria police responded to an area hospital after learning someone in a car dropped off a 2-month-old infant who was extremely hurt, according to a press release. The child had “severe head trauma, and his condition was considered critical.”

After medical professionals investigated further, they realized he had even more extensive injuries — the child had “suffered multiple brain bleeds, bleeding within the eyes, brain swelling, and rib and leg fractures,” the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office said.

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Detectives began to investigate what led to the baby’s injuries after medical professionals told authorities “the trauma to the baby did not appear accidental in nature.” Multiple people “who had contact with the baby leading up to his injuries” were interviewed, according to police, but their answers resulted in “no feasible explanation for the trauma consistent with medical findings.”

Officers continued to investigate, and after speaking with family members of the child, “investigators learned that the defendant was the sole person caring for the baby during the time the injuries occurred.”

With such information, investigators now had their suspect, and police located Nichols in the 2000 block of Northeast Jefferson Avenue in the city, and he was detained and interviewed.

On Tuesday, a grand jury indicted the defendant on the aggravated battery to a child charge, and he was subsequently arrested. As of Wednesday, the investigation was said to be ongoing.

Nichols is expected to be arraigned on Feb. 5.