Dad Admits To Trying To Drown Infant Over Holiday Stress, Gets 15 Years In Prison

A Kansas City, Missouri man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after he tried to drown his 6-month-old daughter in December 2018.

Jonathon Zicarelli, 28, pleaded guilty Friday to a charge of abuse or neglect of a child, KMBC 9 reported, citing the Jackson County Prosecutor's Office.

Zicarelli was arrested on Dec. 17, 2018, in Greenwood, Missouri, after he turned himself in to police claiming he drowned his child, KSHB 41 reported.

The father appeared "emotionally removed" when he told officers he drowned his infant in the pond by the soccer fields on Doc Henry Road, according to the KMBC 9 report. The unnamed baby was found floating face-up in the pond with mud in her eyes and grass in her mouth.

Her body temperature registered at 87.9 degrees Fahrenheit at the time, Fox 4 Kansas City reported. The normal body temperature for babies and children hovers between 97.9 to 100.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

Police believe she was in the water for more than 10 minutes, according to KMBC 9. She was taken to a hospital with severe hypothermia after responders got her breathing again.

Zicarelli told detectives he was having "bad thoughts" and that he was stressed out due to the holiday and trying to provide for the family, courts documents said. He claimed he tried to kill his daughter because he wanted to make it easier on his wife.

Additionally, Zicarelli also confessed he had been planning to kill his daughter for over 24 hours, investigators said.

Zicarelli told police he drove by the pond, parked his car and walked down to the water three separate times while trying to determine if he would kill her, documents said. He reportedly put his daughter in the water and watched her sink before leaving in his car and heading to the Greenwood Police Department to confess his crime.

Following the incident, Zicarelli's daughter spent a few days in the hospital before she was released.

The police chief for Greenwood at the time of Zicarelli's arrest, Greg Hallgrimson, was indicted in November 2019 by a federal grand jury for assaulting the father while he was handcuffed and violating his constitutional rights, KSHB 41 reported.

Hallgrimson entered the police station after recovering Zicarelli's baby and walked up to where Zicarelli was handcuffed in a chair, grabbed him, threw him to the ground, got on top of him, screamed at him and struck him in the face, according to Hallgrimson's plea agreement — where he entered a guilty plea.

The former police chief told employees after the assault that he was resigning because of his actions.

Hallgrimson faced up to 10 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000, but the plea agreement will allow him to be sentenced to probation for up to three years.