PUTNAM COUNTY, Tenn. (TCD) — Deputies arrested a man weeks after he allegedly fatally threw his live-in girlfriend’s 2-year-old child against a wall because he was upset with him.
On Dec. 2, the Putnam County Sheriff’s Office responded to J D Randolph Road to a report of an unresponsive 2-year-old child. Deputies found the toddler, Ventura Mora-Francisco, and transported him to Cookeville Regional Medical Center. The child was later transported to Vanderbilt Medical Children’s Hospital to treat a major traumatic brain injury.
Putnam County Detective Sgt. Brian Haworth spoke with the victim’s mother, Sara Mora, as well as her live-in boyfriend, Ashton Sensing. The Sheriff’s Office said Sensing was babysitting the toddler and three other children when the victim sustained his injuries.
Sensing reportedly told the detective that while he was babysitting, he fell asleep on the couch and the victim fell once into an air vent and then fell a second time, causing him to go unconscious. However, according to the sheriff’s office, Sensing eventually confessed to the detective that he threw the child against a wall and hit him. Sensing said he kept getting upset with the 2-year-old throughout the day, and after throwing and hitting the child, the toddler became unresponsive.
Haworth later learned the victim’s injuries were “inoperable,” and he would not survive. Officials also determined the injuries were caused by “non-accidental blunt trauma.” The boy died three days after the incident, on Dec. 5.
Officials obtained a warrant for Sensing’s arrest on charges of first-degree murder and aggravated child abuse on Dec. 7. The sheriff’s office said Sensing avoided law enforcement and had been “on the run” since Dec. 6.
The sheriff’s office learned Sensing was at a Dollar General store in Putnam County on Dec. 14. Deputies went to the store, found Sensing, and took him into custody.
Sensing was booked into the Putnam County Jail and remains held without bond. He is scheduled to appear in court on Jan. 12, 2024.
Sheriff Eddie Farris said in a statement, “This is a very sad and unfortunate outcome that resulted in the brutal death of an innocent child. There is no more important resource than the future of our children.”
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