Charges filed against boyfriend in baby’s death

Published 9:53 am Wednesday, April 15, 2015

ST. PAUL — Authorities have a warrant for the arrest of a man charged with smothering his girlfriend’s newborn child in Ramsey County.

Twenty-seven-year-old Austin Bryan Gustafson is charged with second-degree murder in the death of the 3-month-old girl about a year ago.

A criminal complaint said the former White Bear Lake man had been caring for the baby while her mother was at work. A medical examiner’s report said the baby died of oxygen deprivation to the brain, likely the result of smothering.

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According to a press release, Gustafson told investigators he awoke on the morning of April 30 and found the baby, on her stomach in her crib, wasn’t breathing. The complaint said Gustafson moved to Wisconsin after the baby died.