Detectives say the couple later admitted they made up a sleep-death account.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Police say a Florida couple’s account of their 3-week-old son’s death unraveled through interviews, video and a later voicemail in which the baby’s mother said she had lied.
Crystal Garcia, 21, and Anfernee Watts, 25, were arrested April 8 after Hollywood detectives said they staged the infant’s body in a playpen and falsely claimed he had died in his sleep. The case began with an Aug. 1, 2025 emergency call and grew into a homicide investigation after the medical examiner ruled the child died by suffocation. Both parents face felony charges in Broward County.
The parents first described a quiet morning that ended with the baby found unresponsive. Watts told police he left the home around 5:30 a.m. for a job interview in Miami after he and Garcia fed the baby, changed his diaper and placed him in a playpen. Garcia said she fed the baby, returned to sleep and woke around 10 a.m. She said she went to speak with her mother, then returned to her room and noticed the child was not making the sounds he usually made. She told officers she opened one of his eyes and realized he was gone. “You know when you see someone when they passed, like it was like that,” Garcia said, according to the affidavit.
That account included a delay that drew investigators’ attention. Garcia told police she did not call 911 immediately, did not try CPR and did not tell her mother, who was in the home, because she did not want to stress her out. Officers and fire rescue crews were not called to the home in the 6000 block of Thomas Street until about 1:44 p.m. The infant was pronounced dead about six minutes later. Police said the delay was not the only issue. Watts’ job interview story did not check out, investigators said, and the couple’s shared cellphone remained inside the residence. Those details weakened the first version before detectives even moved to the physical evidence.
Police said the home told a different story from the one the parents first gave. The child was in a playpen in a private room, but detectives found a car seat next to it and an Amazon Alexa device in the bathroom. They reported a strong smell of bleach from the bathroom, an open window and cleaning items that appeared to have been used recently. They also saw white foam in the baby’s mouth, cracked lips with dried blood and a soiled diaper. A changing pad in the playpen appeared to have blood spotting. Investigators said these observations did not by themselves explain the death, but they helped show that the scene had changed before police arrived.
Video outside the home added a timestamp to the alleged cleanup. A Ring camera from across the street showed Garcia outside about 30 minutes before the 911 call, carrying a large white garbage bag and what appeared to be a mop or broom, police said. She put the items in a trash bin, according to the affidavit. Watts later admitted he had thrown away baby bottles and other items from the home. He also said he knocked over a jar of bleach and cleaned the spill with wipes while Garcia was calling 911. Detectives treated those statements as part of the alleged concealment because they followed the child’s death and came before police could fully examine the home.
Garcia later gave police a new account of what happened before the baby was moved to the playpen, investigators said. She said she put a gray pacifier in the infant’s mouth, wrapped him tightly in a blanket, secured the pacifier, strapped him into a car seat and placed the car seat in the bathtub. She then played lullabies through the Alexa device, closed the bathroom door and went back to sleep, according to police. The affidavit says she heard the baby cry but ignored him for several hours. When she later found him unresponsive and appearing dead, investigators said, she failed to immediately seek help and instead helped create the false sleep-death scene.
The most direct shift in the case came three days after the baby died. On Aug. 4, Watts’ mother told police that Garcia had admitted lying about the events, according to investigators. That same day, Garcia began contacting the Hollywood Police Department to clarify earlier information. Police said she left a voicemail saying she had lied and that she had smothered the baby. Detectives later wrote that Garcia and Watts both admitted they had made up a story for law enforcement and placed the dead baby back in the playpen to make it seem as though he died in his sleep. Police said Garcia also told them she was scared of going to jail.
The medical examiner’s office later gave investigators the formal finding needed to support homicide charges. Family members told police the baby had been healthy days earlier, including during a July 28, 2025 doctor’s visit. Dr. Erin Ely with the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office noted during the initial examination that the baby had begun the process of decomposition, according to case records. In March 2026, the office determined that the cause of death was suffocation and that the manner was homicide. The ruling aligned with the later statements police attributed to Garcia and with the allegation that the playpen scene was staged after the child was already dead.
Garcia is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death and providing false information to law enforcement. Watts faces those same charges and an additional charge of obstructing a criminal investigation. Police said Watts’ actions included giving a false account about leaving for work, disposing of items and helping create the story given to officers. The allegations against Garcia include the acts police say directly led to the suffocation, along with the alleged staging and delay in reporting the death.
The case also leaves some public questions unresolved. Initial reports did not make clear who called 911, what exact time Garcia first believed the baby was dead or whether either defendant had retained an attorney. It was also not immediately clear when Garcia and Watts were scheduled to return to court. Both were reported held without bond at the Broward Main Jail after the arrests. Prosecutors will have to prove the charges using the medical finding, the alleged voicemail, the defendants’ statements, surveillance footage and evidence collected from the home.
For police, the case moved from one story to another: a sleeping baby in a playpen, then a bathroom, a car seat, loud music, discarded items and an alleged admission. Garcia and Watts remained in custody as Broward County proceedings continued after the April 8 arrests.
Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.