MUNCIE, Ind. — Jacob Vera, the father of a baby girl who was found dead in a Muncie motel room, is now under arrest after being caught in Illinois. He is being held in Tazewell County pending extradition back to Indiana.
Jacob is facing a felony neglect charge after investigators claim he left her swaddled in a blanket and left town.
Shortly after 8:30 p.m. on March 25, 2023, the Muncie Police Department went to the Bestway Inn at 4000 North Broadway Avenue, Room 124 on reports of a cardiac arrest.
Jessica Brown called 911 after she came home from work and found her 3-month-old baby unresponsive and not breathing.
Isabelle Vera was pronounced dead at the scene.
Brown later told two detectives both of her children were alive and well when she left for work around 2 p.m. earlier that day. They were reportedly under the care of their father, Jacob, who Brown said usually watched the children while she worked.
But when Brown came home around 8:30 p.m., she said her children were alone, and their father was nowhere to be found.
The 16-month old, Annalise Vera, was sobbing "uncontrollably" in a pack-and-play mobile crib. Brown said she consoled Annalise then checked on her infant who was swaddled in a blanket and rocking in a baby swing.
Brown told police when she got Isabelle out of the swing, she wasn't moving normally. She then realized Isabelle was not breathing at all, and ran to a nearby room to call for help.
Brown told police she could not call authorities on her own because it seemed Jacob had left with their only phone.
Detectives noted rigor mortis had already set in Isabelle's body, so they believed she died about two hours before first responders arrived on scene.
A fellow motel resident told a Muncie detective that Jacob had come to his room around 5:30 p.m. that same night and asked for a ride to Chicago. Jacob also allegedly told the man he only had $130 and asked if that would be enough to get him to Chicago.
The man told police he refused to take Jacob.
The day after the infant was found dead in the motel room, Muncie detectives received a tip that Jacob called a friend and asked for a ride to Illinois. The friend gave Jacob a ride in exchange for gas money, and pointed detectives to the Facebook message where he asked for the ride.
Surveillance video confirmed the timeline the tipster provided to police, as well as the timeline Brown had given police.
An autopsy revealed the baby died from asphyxiation.
On March 28, a detective spoke with Jacob on the phone. He told them he is in Peoria, Illinois, and admitted he left the children unattended.
"If I'm guilty of anything, it's the leaving," court documents show Jacob said to police. He also told detectives he swaddled the baby in a pink and black blanket, and then laid another blanket on top of her in the swing where she was later found dead.
Jacob reportedly told detectives when he left, the baby was asleep and the 16-month-old was in the pack-and-play drinking a bottle, also nearly asleep.
Jacob claimed he left the children unattended in order to travel to Illinois and to "avoid any drama" with Brown.
Jacob is charged with neglect of a dependent resulting in death, a Level 1 felony.