Fairbanks police investigating death of 1-year-old girl

FAIRBANKS, Alaska (KTUU) - Fairbanks police are investigating the death of a 1-year-old girl, according to the Fairbanks Police Department.

Content Warning: This article contains information that some readers might find disturbing. Specific details have been omitted to protect the victims’ identities.

Fairbanks Emergency Communications Center received notification Friday morning of a death of a child near 1600 Central Avenue.

Fairbanks police and Fairbanks Fire Department medics responded to the location and found a 1-year-old girl deceased at the residence.

“The child was observed to have multiple injuries to her body, consistent with being assaulted,” a department press release stated.

The mother of the child said that she went in to wake up the girl and found her deceased. The mother said she was working the previous day and the child was in the care of her boyfriend, 31-year-old Zackry Johnson.

The mother said that when she got home from work the previous evening Johnson told her that the child was asleep.

Johnson was taken to the Fairbanks Police Department. Johnson initially stated that the child had been “play fighting” with her 6-year-old sister.

“When confronted that the injuries observed on the child were inconsistent with injuries which would be caused by two young siblings rough-housing, Johnson provided different accounts of how the child received the injuries,” police stated in the release.

Johnson admitted to causing multiple injuries and using too much force as he was trying to get the child to take a nap so that he could play video games, according to the press release.

Fairbanks Police say Johnson admitted that his actions “likely” caused the death of the girl.

Johnson was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.

If anyone has more information regarding this case, please contact Fairbanks detectives at fpdinvestigations@fairbanks.us or call 907-450-6550.

If you suspect that a child is being abused, please contact law enforcement or call the Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-478-4444.

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