Infant Adams dies in hospital

A 3-month-old infant who police say suffered a fractured skull at the hands of his father has died.

Cayden S. Adams died at Deaconess Medical Center at 3 a.m. Thursday, according to a hospital spokesman. Court papers released Wednesday incorrectly spelled Cayden’s name, and the misspelling was included in a story in Thursday’s Spokesman-Review.

Adams’ father, 20-year-old James Vincent Adams, is in the Spokane County Jail on $500,000 bond after he was arrested for first-degree assault of a child. In court records, Adams admits head-butting his son twice in the back of the head at his home at 18405 E. Dalton in Greenacres.

Paramedics took Cayden to the hospital Tuesday morning after his mother, Jennifer L. Rowe, reported that her son was not breathing, according to records.

Cpl. Dave Reagan said an autopsy was to be performed Thursday morning.

Spokane County prosecutors were prepared to file assault charges against Adams today, but in light of Cayden’s death, prosecutors might file a murder charge.

In April, The Spokesman-Review published a series of stories about several cases in which men were convicted of abusing children.

In the past two years, caregivers have been charged with beating and killing five Spokane children. Several other children have been seriously injured in recent months.

A Spokane man was arrested April 28 for allegedly shaking his 11-week-old son, causing swelling of the brain. Leigh S. McGuire, 26, was also convicted in 1997 of squeezing another of his children, a 6-week-old-girl, so hard that he broke her ribs.