Man accused of beating baby to death

A man accused of beating 10-month-old Caiden Henry to death may have carried his body around for hours, while reporting that the baby was sleeping, according to court documents.

Joshua J. Mobley, 28, regularly baby-sat the boy, whose mother, Crystal Henry, worked with Mobley’s wife. Mobley, who has three young children of his own, was arrested Monday morning on a charge of second-degree murder.

On Sunday Mobley’s wife and the baby’s mother went to work around 10 a.m. Crystal Henry reported getting a picture from Mobley shortly after 5:30 p.m. that day that appeared to show Caiden sleeping. She told police that it was very unusual for Mobley to text a picture, according to court documents.

Crystal Henry left work early to go to the Providence Holy Family Hospital emergency room to be treated for a possible aneurysm in her eye, court records say. Mobley took his family, as well as Caiden, to his mother’s house that evening. Both Mobley’s wife and mother said that he carried Caiden inside and immediately took him upstairs to lay him down because he was sleeping, according to court documents. Neither heard the baby make noises.

The Mobleys picked up Crystal Henry from the emergency room shortly after 9 p.m. and took her to her apartment in the 2900 block of East Wellesley Avenue while Caiden was in his car seat in the back of the car, court records say. His mother told police that when they arrived at her home Mobley took the baby out of the car and carried him inside, saying the baby was “sleeping really heavy.”

Crystal Henry said Mobley told her to leave her son alone and “it was as if Joshua Mobley did not want (her) to touch Caiden whatsoever,” according to court documents.

She checked on him shortly before 3 a.m. and discovered he was not breathing and was cold to the touch. She immediately called 911.

Police discovered fresh bruises on Caiden’s cheeks, forehead and stomach. The Spokane County Medical Examiner ruled Caiden’s death was due to blunt force trauma. An autopsy revealed internal bleeding and brain hemorrhaging, according to court documents.

Crystal Henry also showed police pictures of bruises she had discovered on her son about a week before his death. She had picked him up from Mobley’s home and found bruises on his left cheek, left ear and forehead as well as a broken blood vessel in his left eye. She told police that Mobley said her son had banged his head against a wooden crib, according to court documents.

Mobley’s bond was set at $500,000 in court Tuesday. His attorney, Courtney Conklin, said she will request a lower bond at a hearing next week. She said Mobley has no criminal history and that all the evidence against him is “completely circumstantial.”

Mobley was ordered to have no contact with minors, including his own young children.