Overview
- The victim was identified in court documents as 2-year-old Valkyrie Erickson, who was found unresponsive early Sunday at a home on Vrain Street and pronounced dead at the hospital.
- Nicolas John Stout, 38, was arrested Sunday on suspicion of first-degree murder and child abuse resulting in death and was denied bond during a Tuesday court appearance.
- The child’s mother, Melissa Wayne, 38, was arrested late Tuesday on suspicion of child abuse resulting in death and is being held on a $200,000 cash bond after a Wednesday court appearance.
- An arrest affidavit cites bloody towels and wipes in the trash and a large bloody handprint on a bedroom wall, along with bruises across the child’s body in various stages of healing and head injuries that police say do not align with a fall.
- Multiple residents told investigators they heard yelling and smacking from the bedroom and described Stout as aggressive, while Wayne reported seeing him strike the child twice and Stout denied abuse, blaming a fall.