A 26-year-old father in Indiana has been arrested after allegedly nearly killing his infant daughter because the 3-month-old was “crying uncontrollably.” Neil A. McCaffery was arrested on Wednesday and charged with one count of felony neglect of a dependent resulting in serious bodily injury, according to records reviewed by Law&Crime.
At around 6 p.m. on May 8, 2025, officers from the Muncie, Indiana, Police Department responded to a 911 call reporting an unresponsive infant at a home on South Pershing Drive, about 55 miles northeast of Indianapolis.
When first responders arrived at the scene, they said they spoke with the child’s parents, who said the infant had a “gas bubble” stuck in her throat, according to Indianapolis Fox affiliate WXIN. The couple claimed that when they tried to burp the child, she “went limp” and became “unresponsive.”
Emergency medical personnel on the scene determined that the victim was having a seizure and transported him via helicopter to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. Doctors reportedly determined that the infant had a bilateral subdural hematoma, which means that blood was present in the subdural space of both hemispheres of the brain.
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Several days after doctors performed emergency surgery to relieve pressure on the baby’s brain, she went into cardiac arrest and needed to be fed through a tube. According to doctors, a portion of her brain “stopped receiving oxygen and started to die,” predicting that she will have developmental delays.
While at the hospital, investigators spoke with McCaffery and the child’s mother, whose name was not mentioned in the report. During the interview, McCaffery allegedly stated that after returning home from work, his wife informed him that their daughter had “a gas bubble stuck from eating,” so he took the baby to his bedroom and slapped her on the back several times in an attempt to get her to burp, according to the Indianapolis Star Press.
According to WXIN, McCaffery claimed that after the girl burped, he placed her on his bed and “began to count money.” But a short time later, the father stated that he noticed the victim “turning blue,” and his wife called 911.
Doctors reportedly told investigators that the child’s head injuries were consistent with trauma, likely caused by “being shaken or thrown to the ground.”
McCaffery’s wife allegedly told police that when McCaffery brought their daughter into the bedroom, she was “crying uncontrollably.” However, after about four minutes in the room, the infant “suddenly stopped crying,” police wrote, according to the Star Press.
McCaffery was booked into Delaware County Jail and released after posting a $20,000 bond. An initial hearing has not yet been scheduled in this case.