Dover- The Delaware State Police have arrested a mother and father after a child death investigation was later determined to be a homicide, according to Public Information Officer, Master Corporal Melissa Jaffe.
Jaffe said the investigation began on April 30, 2017, at approximately 3:54 a.m., when Troopers responded to the Bayhealth Kent General Hospital in reference to a death investigation of a child. Further investigation revealed that the child, who was one year old at that time was at home with his father, 25-year old Antonio Hughes, while his mother 26-year old Chanel E. Green was at work. The child had experienced a medical emergency when Hughes contacted Green to respond back to the residence, located in the 4000 block of Forrest Avenue, Dover.
Upon Green returning to the residence, she and Hughes privately transported the child to the hospital, where the child was later pronounced deceased. The child was turned over to the Delaware Division of Forensic Science to conduct an autopsy to determine the cause and manner of death.
It was learned at this time that Hughes was arrested and convicted of Child Abuse 2nd in 2016, involving the same child, in which a no-contact order was issued, Jaffe said. Upon Hughes’s release from prison after this incident, Green allowed him to return to the residence, knowing it was in violation of a no-contact order, according to Jaffe. Green also continued to allow Hughes to be the primary caretaker for their child. When this incident occurred on April 30, 2017, there was a no-contact order still in place between Hughes and the child and also a no-contact order between Hughes and Green. Hughes was arrested at this time for violating this order and committed to the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center on $15,000 cash only bond.
It was later determined by the Delaware Division of Forensic Science that the child’s cause of death was homicide by manner of blunt force trauma associated with child abuse, said Jaffe.
On May 29, 2019, Chanel Green turned herself in at Troop 3 where she was charged with Criminally Negligent Homicide and Endangering the Welfare of a Child. She was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court and committed to the Delores J. Baylor Women’s Correctional Institution on $16,000 cash only bond.
On June 6, 2019, Antonio Hughes was charged with Murder by Abuse. He was arraigned before the Justice of the Peace Court and remained at the James T. Vaughn Correctional Center on $1,000,000 cash only bond.
