Police charged both parents with aggravated manslaughter, but public records do not identify which adult directly caused the baby’s fatal trauma.
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Nearly a year after a 7-week-old girl suffered fatal head injuries inside a South Florida home, one basic question remains unresolved in publicly reported court and police records: Authorities have not said which parent, if either, inflicted the trauma that killed her.
That uncertainty has not prevented prosecutors from pursuing cases against both of the child’s parents. Gracie Jai Tellez and Robert Lee Ingram Jr. are each charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and child neglect. Investigators allege the infant suffered nonaccidental head trauma while she was under their care and contend that both adults failed in their responsibilities to protect and supervise her. The charges are allegations, and neither defendant has been convicted.
The structure of the case is therefore different from one built around an identified assault caught on video or described by an eyewitness. Police records reported by South Florida news organizations instead outline a circumstantial case drawing on the baby’s injuries, her medical history, the parents’ changing or disputed statements, forensic data from their phones and investigators’ conclusions about what the two adults should have been able to observe inside the home.
The child’s medical condition gave the investigation its starting point. On Oct. 14, 2025, Tellez called 911 from the family’s residence on Farragut Street and reported that her daughter was cold, pale and unresponsive. Hollywood police performed CPR before fire rescue personnel transported the infant to Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital. Doctors there found extensive trauma that authorities said could not be explained by the history initially provided by the parents.
According to reports describing an arrest affidavit, physicians identified a traumatic brain injury, fractures involving the skull, bleeding in both eyes, retinal detachments and hemorrhaging along the spine. Specialists told investigators the injuries were consistent with nonaccidental head trauma involving blunt force and violent acceleration and deceleration. The child was declared brain dead on Oct. 18 and remained on life support until Oct. 22 in connection with organ donation.
The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office later ruled that the child died from complications of blunt head trauma and classified the manner of death as homicide. That conclusion meant the death was medically attributed to the actions of another person rather than to natural causes or an ordinary accident. It did not answer the legal question of who was responsible. Medical examiners classify deaths; courts determine criminal guilt.
Investigators found another important piece of the timeline in the baby’s recent health records. A pediatrician had examined her on Oct. 8, six days before the emergency, and police said the doctor considered her healthy with no significant documented injuries or medical concerns. The medical examiner also described her as well-developed and well-nourished. Those findings gave detectives reason to focus closely on the period after the appointment, when the child was primarily in the care of Tellez and Ingram.
The parents told detectives that the baby had been behaving normally, had been fed and had been placed in a bassinet before she was found unresponsive, authorities said. Police reported that Ingram later gave different accounts about details such as feeding times, when the infant slept and how often she was moved in and out of the bassinet. Investigators said another timeline emerged when he participated in a reenactment at the residence.
Those statements still left police without an account explaining how the injuries occurred. Detectives therefore examined not only what the parents said but what the physical and digital evidence suggested they were doing. Investigators considered the size and layout of the residence and concluded, according to reports describing the affidavit, that it was unlikely an event capable of causing such serious injuries could have happened without both parents noticing something.
The couple’s cellphone records added another layer. Police said Tellez and Ingram had described using FaceTime between their phones as a makeshift baby monitor. Under that arrangement, one phone could have been placed near the child while the other was used to keep watch from elsewhere. Detectives obtained search warrants for the phones and said forensic examinations did not show the FaceTime monitoring the parents described during the relevant period.
Instead, the devices showed extensive Call of Duty and YouTube use. Ingram’s phone showed game activity from about 5:12 a.m. until 8:39 a.m. and again between approximately 10:33 a.m. and 11:49 a.m., according to local reports describing the records. Tellez’s device also showed a lengthy late-morning gaming session that ended around 11:52 a.m. She called 911 at about 11:53 a.m., according to investigators.
The prosecution theory described by police does not appear to be that playing a video game is proof of manslaughter. The records matter because detectives say they conflict with the parents’ account of how they were monitoring the child. Investigators wrote that the forensic downloads showed information given by the pair was “not truthful.” The digital activity also provided exact times that could be compared with statements about feeding, sleep, supervision and when the infant was last believed to be behaving normally.
Still, cellphone records cannot by themselves establish who caused a physical injury. Public accounts of the affidavit do not identify a recording of the trauma, a witness who saw it happen or a statement in which one parent admitted causing it. That leaves the state relying on the combination of medical conclusions, circumstances inside the home, the parents’ duty of care and evidence investigators say shows their accounts were unreliable.
That is where the allegations of culpable negligence become central. Police contend both adults were responsible for a newborn who depended entirely on caregivers. Investigators allege that each parent’s failure to provide appropriate care contributed to the child’s death, even though the available reports do not assign the injury-producing act to a single defendant. Prosecutors will have to prove the legal responsibility of each parent rather than simply establish that the infant died while both were present.
The distinction also explains why several pieces of evidence that might otherwise seem secondary carry more weight in this case. Whether the phones were really being used as a baby monitor matters because it speaks to supervision. Whether Ingram’s timeline changed matters because it affects how investigators evaluate his account. The pediatric visit matters because it helps establish the child’s recent condition. The home’s layout matters because detectives used it to assess whether one parent could plausibly have been unaware of events involving the baby.
None of those pieces alone supplies a complete narrative of what happened. Together, police say, they established probable cause for charges. Arrest warrants were issued July 27, 2026, after months of investigative work. The U.S. Marshals Service later joined efforts to locate the couple, and Tellez and Ingram were arrested in Jacksonville on Aug. 7 before being returned to Broward County.
The move from probable cause to a criminal conviction requires a higher standard. An arrest warrant permits authorities to take a person into custody based on a judge’s finding that sufficient grounds exist for the accusation. At trial, prosecutors would have to prove the charged crimes beyond a reasonable doubt. Defense attorneys would be able to challenge the evidence, offer competing interpretations and question whether investigators can establish what each defendant knew or did.
The parents have already received different treatment on the question of pretrial detention. On Sept. 4, Circuit Judge Edward H. Merrigan Jr. permitted Tellez to post a $15,000 bond after her mother testified in court. Tellez had turned 21 while jailed. Ingram, 22, remained held without bond at that time, according to local reporting. Those custody decisions concern release while the cases are pending and do not determine guilt or innocence.
As the proceedings continue, the unresolved identity of the person who directly caused the trauma is likely to remain one of the most closely examined parts of the case. Police allege both caregivers bear criminal responsibility for what happened to the infant, while the publicly reported evidence stops short of assigning the fatal act to either one. The court process will determine whether prosecutors can bridge that gap with the evidence they have gathered.
Author note: Last updated September 22, 2026.