Time till death study: How soon after “first contact” is a non-biologically related male likely to kill his partners child?

Abstract

Non-biologically related males who are intimate partners of women with young children are the most likely perpetrators of homicidal violence against these children. The primary objective of this study is to determine the usual time interval between first child/unrelated adult male contact and the child's death. The secondary objective is to examine possible predisposing factors. First contact is defined as the time when the child initially interacted or met with the unrelated adult male, whether or not they lived together and for the purposes of this study is based on the length of the mothers relationship with her partner before the child was killed. The coroners office database in Indianapolis, Indiana was examined for records of child homicides from which victim data (age, sex, race and cause of death) was recovered. The associated child protective services (CPS) reports were examined to create a forensic epidemiologic profile including in particular, the length of time the unrelated adult male had known or lived with the child and when the child was killed.Over a period of 14 years, 79 cases of homicides were recovered in children aged 5 years and younger. Of these, there were 15 cases in which all relevant data was recorded. The time interval from first contact to death ranged from 14 to 240 days with a median of 75 days. Approximately 80% of all victims were killed within 90 days. The victims included 12 males and 3 females with an age range of 2–61 months. The median age was 22 months. There were 10 white, 4 black, and 1 Hispanic victim. Blunt force trauma to the head was the cause of death in 13 of 15 deaths. Forty percent (6/15) had prior CPS contact. Young children are most likely to be killed within 90 days of first unsupervised contact with a non-biologically related male. Most victims were male and blunt force trauma to the head was the leading cause of death.