By Jeff Lehr

jlehr@joplinglobe.com

CARTHAGE, Mo. — It may take up to two weeks before the cause of death is determined on a baby whose body was retrieved Saturday from Spring River.

The Boone County medical examiner performed an autopsy Monday on 8-month-old Eddie A. Salazar, of Carthage. But the pathologist is not prepared as yet to release preliminary findings, which generally include cause of death.

Carthage police Chief Greg Dagnan said the medical examiner’s office informed investigators after the autopsy that they want to do further testing before releasing any preliminary findings.

“That’s not that uncommon,” Dagnan said.

He said that does not mean that investigators who were present at the autopsy saw no obvious signs of a cause of death. He said the medical examiner simply wants to conduct additional tests to be certain before releasing any findings.

How that might affect the investigation remained uncertain Monday.

Police have identified the father of the child, also named Eddie A. Salazar, 29, as the “only” suspect in the infant’s death. The father is being held at the Jasper County Jail in Carthage on a misdemeanor charge of making a false report to police. His bond has been set at $100,000.

Dean Dankelson, the Jasper County prosecutor, said Monday morning that additional charges could be filed against the father as early as the afternoon or, more likely, sometime today. But that was before the medical examiner’s decision to delay releasing preliminary results.

Dagnan said later in the day that additional charges will be up to Dankelson. Police have not said what evidence there is that the father may be responsible for the child’s death.

Background

Salazar placed a 911 call at 11:04 p.m. Thursday and reported that the child had been abducted by two masked men who forced their way into his home at 227 E. Mound St. in Carthage and overpowered him. He claimed to have been knocked unconscious in the struggle. He said that when he regained consciousness, the intruders were gone, and so was his son. He told police that one of the men was armed with a knife.

Dagnan said the father’s story remained “vague” on Friday and “sometimes changed” under questioning. For example, the number of intruders vacillated between one and two during Salazar’s recounting of events to investigators, the police chief said.

“His naming an individual that we could prove was not involved was the first proof we had that what he was saying was not true,” Dagnan said.

He said that proof came about 5:30 p.m. Friday. Salazar had identified one of the purported intruders by name and photograph. Detectives contacted the man and determined that the allegation could not possibly have been true.

Admission

Confronted with the refutation of his claim, Salazar admitted that he had made up the entire story about intruders, according to a probable-cause affidavit filed by police. Dagnan said that admission came Friday night. But it was not until midafternoon Saturday that investigators found the child’s body in Spring River, about a half-mile downstream from a bridge on County Road 85, east of Carthage.

A news release over the weekend reported that a tip led investigators to the site where the body was discovered up against a tree in the water along the river’s edge.

Dagnan on Monday declined to say if the information about the location came from the father. All he would say was that it came from “somebody talked to by investigators.”

The child’s body was retrieved attired in the clothes he was reported to have been wearing when he reportedly was abducted — a blue, one-piece suit and white socks, according to the police chief. He said there was no other clothing on the child. He declined to say whether the body had been placed inside a bag or some other means of conveyance.

Criminal record

Court records show that the father has two felony convictions for which he served time in the Missouri Department of Corrections.

He served seven months in prison in 2002 for felony property damage before being released on parole in December of that year. He had shot out the windows of a shop and a sport utility vehicle in Carthage.

Salazar was sent back to prison in February 2004, when his parole was revoked for committing an armed robbery of the Star Pump and Pantry in Avilla. He was convicted of the robbery and was sentenced to 10 years, with the two sentences to run concurrently. He was released on parole again in June 2008 and was still on parole at the time of his son’s death.





Half brother



According to police, the older, preschool sibling of baby Eddie Salazar, who was present in the home the night of the baby’s disappearance, is a half brother. Yadira Aguilar is the biological mother of both children. Only the deceased baby was Eddie Salazar’s biological son.

The mother was at work when the baby went missing and is not considered a suspect in the case, police say.