MIDLAND, Texas — Midland police officers arrested 29-year-old Octavious Hubbard for capital murder on Thursday in connection to the death of his girlfriend's son.
According to an arrest affidavit, on April 17, a Midland Police Department detective was contacted about a child at Midland Memorial Hospital in critical condition.
When the detective got to the hospital, he saw the body of a child under the age of 10 who had already been declared dead.
The child’s clothes appeared to be dirty and had stains that looked like blood. A bruise about 1.5 to 2 inches in size could be seen on the child’s forehead, as well as a cut. The child’s chin had an injury that was about 1 inch wide and was missing a patch of skin but was recently scabbed over.
There were also several small scratches and cuts on the child’s chest, arms and foot.
When the detective got to the police station, Hubbard and another person, whose name was redacted in the documents, were in custody.
Hubbard told police it was initially thought that the child’s injuries were caused by the family dog. The other person, who made the call to police, said she left the child and their siblings with Hubbard while she went to work for most of the day.
Hubbard said while the child was in his care he saw or heard nothing to explain the injuries.
The document goes on to describe the following ways that Hubbard and the other person gave contradicting accounts of what happened:
Hubbard claimed he took the day off work and was at the apartment all morning. The other person said they took Hubbard to work for a brief meeting with his supervisors that morning.
Hubbard said he was left with the child for an hour that night and drew the child on a bed when asked to show what he saw during that hour. The other person said the child was only left in Hubbard’s car for the hour.
Hubbard said he didn’t know anything about the child’s injuries until he was told about the death. The other person said they talked to Hubbard about the family dog injuring the child that day, telling him to be more protective of the child.
At first, the other person said they saw the child’s injured chin that day during a break from work, thinking the family dog did it. When the detective said he didn’t believe it was a dog bite, the person changed their story, saying they didn’t see any injuries at that time, but the child did seem lethargic or tired.
The person went on to make several comments about the forehead injuries and blood in the child’s mouth that made the detective believe that either them or Hubbard was lying.
When the detective attended the child’s autopsy on April 20, they saw impact injuries on both the left and right sides of the child’s forehead, as well as on the center back of the child’s head.
The medical examiner said the injuries were from three separate impacts that caused bleeding inside the child’s brain cavity. They were reportedly not consistent with injuries seen from a fall or other accidental situation and were said to have happened within 24 hours of the death.
The medical examiner ruled the cause of death a homicide.
Because of the information gathered, the detective believed that someone caused the child’s death by hitting them three or more times and that Hubbard was in the care, custody and control of the child during their death.
Hubbard was taken to the Midland County Jail around 6 p.m. At last update, he was still behind bars on a $1 million bond.
We will continue to update this story as we receive more information. The investigation is still ongoing.