Tucson Citizen

Dad arrested in death of baby left in car

DAVID L. TEIBEL
Published: 03.12.2008
Sheriff's deputies arrested the father of a 4-month-old boy who died in a closed car Monday afternoon, a sheriff's bureau chief said Tuesday
Anthony R. Kurz, 19, of the 4000 block of East Pinto Lane in Catalina, was booked into the Pima County Jail shortly after 1 a.m. Tuesday in the death of his son Adryan Womble-Kurz, Bureau Chief Richard Kastigar said He is charged with negligent homicide and child abuse, he said.
Kurz told detectives he had taken girlfriend Samantha Womble, 18, to work Monday afternoon. Their child was in a car seat, Kastigar said.
Kurz told detectives he and Womble had been arguing and when he returned home, he noticed the door on their mobile home was ajar. Kurz went inside about 1 p.m. and left his son in the car.
Kurz reported he went back out to the car about 4 p.m. and spotted Adryan sitting in his car seat, unresponsive. Kurz started yelling and someone called 911.
The baby was taken to Northwest Medical Center Oro Valley, where he was pronounced dead, sheriff's spokeswoman Deputy Dawn Hanke said.
Before booking Kurz, investigators got warrants to search the home and to take a sample of Kurz's blood for analysis, Kastigar said.
A search of the home was to continue Tuesday and an autopsy is planned, Kastigar said.
Kurz was being held without bail pending an initial court appearance.
Child Hyperthermia Death in Vehicle

Teen dad in Catalina arrested in death of infant son
By Dale Quinn
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

Tucson, Arizona | Published: 03.11.2008
A 19-year-old father was arrested Monday in connection with the death of his infant son who’d been left in a car outside a Catalina residence for at least three hours, an official said.

Anthony Ryan Kurz was booked into Pima County jail early Tuesday on suspicion of negligent homicide and child abuse, according to jail records.  His son, identified as 4-month-old Adryan Womble-Kurz, was found about 4 p.m. in a parked car outside a residence in the 4000 block of East Pinto Lane, north of Tucson, said Sgt. Jesus Lopez, head of the Pima County Sheriff’s Department homicide unit.  He was taken to Northwest Medical Center in Oro Valley where he was pronounced dead.
The cause of Adryan’s death will be determined by an autopsy, Lopez said, but there were no other obvious signs of child abuse.
“We’re estimating that it was at least three hours the child was left in the car,” Lopez said.
According to the National Weather Service the high temperature in the Tucson area reached the mid-70s.

Deputies responded to the home in Catalina after getting the call Monday afternoon of an unresponsive child in a car, Lopez said.
Kurz later told investigators he had dropped his girlfriend off at work and then returned home, but he got distracted and left Adryan in the car, Lopez said.
He apparently told investigators the door to the house was open when he came home, which took his attention away from the baby in the car, Lopez said.
Authorities are still investigating what distracted Kurz from his child and whether or not drugs or alcohol were involved in the incident, Lopez said.
Kurz, his girlfriend and their child lived at the residence in the 4000 block of East Pinto, Lopez said. No other children lived at the residence but other adults did live there, he said.
Lopez said he did not anticipate additional arrests in the case, but the investigation is ongoing.

Contact Dale Quinn at 629-9412 or dquinn@azstarnet.com.