A Lincoln man has been charged with two felony gun crimes and remains under investigation for felony child abuse in the suspected homicide of a 22-month-old boy, police and prosecutors alleged in court filings.
Police were sent to CHI Health St. Elizabeth on Sunday after the child's mother, a 30-year-old woman, brought the unresponsive boy to the east Lincoln hospital with "numerous bruises and injuries to his body," Lincoln Police Officer Brent Lovette said in an emergency custody affidavit filed Tuesday in Lancaster County.
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Hospital staff later told police that the boy had suffered "significant injuries" and was taken by helicopter to an Omaha hospital in critical condition.
Multiple family members later announced the boy's death on social media.
His mother told police that she had noticed numerous bruises and injuries on the boy's body since she began dating her boyfriend, Joshua D. Tackett, in January, Lovette said in the affidavit. Tackett is not the child's father.
The boy's mother said Tackett, a 32-year-old Lincoln man, had "passed out" while holding the 22-month-old in late February and fell on top of him, Lovette said.
The boy had not put weight on his swollen left leg since then, his mother told police. But she did not take him to a doctor.Â
The 30-year-old woman also told police that the boy fell down a staircase at their apartment, near Seventh and G streets, late last week, but seemed uninjured from the fall, Lovette said in the affidavit.
The boy's condition worsened over the course of the weekend until around noon Sunday, when his mom put him down for a nap, Lovette said in the affidavit.Â
When she tried to wake her son three hours later, he was unresponsive, according to the affidavit. She then took him to the hospital — weeks after his leg was injured and nearly three full days after he fell down the stairs.Â
Police suspected Tackett was involved in the boy's injuries nearly immediately and began surveilling his apartment, according to court records.
Hours after the boy's mom had taken him to the hospital, Tackett's own mom — 58-year-old Karen Vestecka — arrived at his apartment at 720 G. St. at around 7 p.m. and left soon after, carrying a pair of shoes and a green rifle case.
Investigators performed a traffic stop on Vestecka, who told them that she had learned the 22-month-old had suffered a brain bleed, a black eye, a swollen ankle, bruising and wouldn't open his eyes, Lincoln Police Investigator Patrick Murphy said in an affidavit stemming from the traffic stop.
Police believe Vestecka retrieved Tackett's Ruger AR .556 rifle from the apartment in an effort to shield her son from felony gun charges, since Tackett is prohibited from owning firearms due to prior felony and domestic violence-related convictions, Murphy said in the affidavit.Â
Instead, prosecutors charged both Vestecka and her son.
The 58-year-old was charged with tampering with physical evidence, a felony, for interfering with the investigation.
And prosecutors charged Tackett — the man suspected of causing the injuries that led to the 22-month-old's death — with two counts of possession of a firearm by a prohibited person after police found a second gun, a shotgun, in his apartment, Murphy said in the affidavit for the 32-year-old's arrest.
Police arrested Tackett at his brother's house Tuesday and took him to the Lancaster County jail.
At his initial court appearance Thursday afternoon, prosecutors described Tackett as a suspect in an ongoing child abuse investigation that had led to "serious injury or death."
Deputy County Attorney Jessica Murphy said Tackett had evaded law enforcement for two days after the 22-month-old was taken to the hospital by "hiding out" at a relative's house.
Tackett has not been charged in the boy's death.
For the firearms charges, Judge Laurie Yardley set Tackett's percentage bond at $500,000. The 32-year-old must pay $50,000 to be released.
Three other children who lived at the apartment Tackett shared with the 22-month-old's mother have been taken into state custody.
It's unclear if the mother is under criminal investigation in her son's death.
The Lincoln Police Department did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Thursday afternoon.