The capital murder case was filed months after doctors treated the baby and forensic officials ruled the death a homicide.
BAYTOWN, Texas — Months after a 7-week-old boy died following a Baytown emergency call, forensic findings helped turn the case into a capital murder charge against his father, Christopher Leon Jenkins.
The July 2025 death did not lead to an immediate public murder charge. Investigators waited on medical records, the autopsy, witness statements and interviews before prosecutors filed the case in April. Court documents now say the baby died from blunt force trauma to the head after being injured while alone with Jenkins.
The infant was found unresponsive July 25, 2025, inside an apartment at 2500 East James Ave. Medics reported that he was on a mattress, unclothed, without a pulse and not breathing, with pink fluid coming from his mouth. He was taken for emergency care, then transferred to Texas Children’s Hospital. Medical staff treated him for brain bleeding and cardiac arrest, according to reports on court documents. The child died Aug. 1, seven days after the call. On Feb. 26, officials reported the cause of death as blunt trauma to the head with subdural hemorrhage, according to local reporting on the filing. The manner of death was ruled a homicide, giving investigators a medical basis to seek a charge.
The timeline before the emergency call became the second pillar of the case. The child’s mother told police she had left the baby with Jenkins and was in another apartment nearby with her mother. About 20 minutes later, Jenkins came over and said something was wrong with the child, according to the affidavit. A 911 call followed, and authorities said the grandmother also called at about the same time. Police wrote that the baby was solely in Jenkins’ care during the period when investigators believe the fatal injuries occurred. The public records do not accuse the mother or grandmother of causing the injuries. Instead, they narrow the focus to the time between the handoff, the alleged injury and the call for help.
Police said Jenkins did not give a single steady account. He first claimed that the baby had been asleep and that he stepped outside to smoke before finding the child unconscious, according to the affidavit. He later said he accidentally dropped the baby while feeding him. Another version involved dropping him while taking him from a bath. Investigators compared those accounts with medical findings and later statements. They also noted a reported estimate from Jenkins that about 15 minutes passed between picking the baby up from the floor, placing him on the bed and calling 911. That estimate could become important in court because it concerns both the injury sequence and the timing of emergency aid.
The case also includes a neighbor’s account of what could be heard inside or near the apartment. The witness told investigators she heard Jenkins yelling while the baby was crying and heard him say “shut up” before the crying stopped. The witness also described a previous incident in which Jenkins lifted the baby with one arm after the child began to cry in a stroller. The affidavit does not say the witness saw Jenkins injure the baby on July 25. Prosecutors may use the statement to support the state’s account of stress, crying and timing. The defense may challenge the witness’s memory, what she could hear and how closely the statement connects to the medical cause of death.
In a later walkthrough, investigators asked Jenkins to demonstrate what happened with a doll used in infant death investigations. Jenkins allegedly threw the doll onto the bed and said the baby bounced off and landed on the floor. “He bounced so high,” he told investigators, according to the affidavit. Police said he then showed how he picked the child up and shook his chest area while trying to determine if the infant was alive. Jenkins allegedly told investigators, “There was too much crying in my mind,” and said, “It just clicked.” Those reported statements link the state’s medical theory to Jenkins’ own alleged description of force, anger and handling of the baby after the fall.
The charge filed in Harris County is capital murder. Under Texas law, the age of the victim can make a homicide a capital case when a child younger than 10 is killed. Jenkins was 26 in most reports at the time of filing, though one local report listed him as 27. He was arrested on a Saturday in late April and booked into the Harris County Jail. A judge later found probable cause for the case to move forward, according to court reporting. Bond information has appeared differently across reports, with some describing him as held without bond and another citing a $2 million bond in jail records. Local court reporting said a no-bond hearing was scheduled after the probable cause finding.
Prosecutors had not publicly announced whether they would seek the death penalty, according to local reports. That decision is separate from the filing of a capital murder charge and can shape how the defense prepares. The case is expected to involve medical experts who can explain head trauma, subdural hemorrhage and acceleration-deceleration forces. It may also involve police witnesses who handled the walkthrough, emergency responders who found the baby, hospital staff who treated him and family members who were at the apartment complex that night. The affidavit provides the state’s version of those events, but the court process will determine what evidence is admitted and how it is tested.
Jenkins’ defense has not fully appeared in public filings covered by local reports. Attorney Kathryn Kahle told Oxygen that Jenkins had not yet entered a plea and said, “We look forward to vigorously defending Mr. Jenkins in court.” That statement signals the case is likely to be contested. Defense lawyers can examine whether Jenkins’ statements were voluntary, whether the doll demonstration was interpreted fairly, whether the medical findings rule out other explanations and whether the timeline proves the charge beyond a reasonable doubt. They can also question inconsistencies in public reporting, including bond descriptions and the precise wording of alleged statements. None of those issues has been decided by a jury.
The long gap between the July 2025 emergency and the April 2026 arrest reflects the way some child death cases move through medical and legal review. Investigators often must wait for hospital records, forensic findings and a completed cause and manner of death before prosecutors can decide on a charge. In this case, the autopsy ruling, the witness statement, Jenkins’ alleged admissions and the walkthrough combined into the probable cause affidavit. The baby’s death date, Aug. 1, also mattered because doctors continued treating him for a week after the first response, creating a medical record that prosecutors may use to show the injury path from apartment to hospital.
As of the latest reports, Jenkins’ capital murder case remains pending in Harris County. The next court stages are expected to focus on bond status, evidence exchange, medical testimony and any motions over Jenkins’ statements before the case can move toward trial or another resolution.
Author note: Last updated May 20, 2026.