The Norman Police Department responded to a report of an unresponsive 17-month-old child at Norman Regional Hospital on October 23. Medical staff provided life saving measures and transported the child to an area hospital due the need for advanced medical care.

The initial investigation indicates that the child suffered significant internal injuries from various acts of abuse including a spleen laceration, liver laceration, collapsed lung, bite marks, bruising, rib fractures, and a hemorrhage in both eyes. Investigators contacted the child’s sole caretaker, 21-year-old Demontre Rose (DOB: 03/11/2000), who confessed to acts of abuse including placing a sock in the child’s mouth and laying on top of him until the child was unresponsive.

Investigators arrested Rose on October 23 and booked him into the Cleveland County Detention Center on a complaint of child abuse by injury.

The child remained on life support at an area hospital until October 27 when he succumbed to injuries sustained as a result of the abuse. The complaint was amended to murder in the first degree due to the child’s death.

The incident remain under investigation by the NPD Criminal Investigations Division.