Baby King Jay’s Death Ruled a Homicide by Medical Examiners: Reports

Stock photo of police tape. (Carl Ballou/Shutterstock)

The death of 8-month-old King Jay Davila was ruled a homicide via “blunt force injuries,” said a local medical examiner’s office.

KSAT broke the news on Feb. 1, citing the Bexar County Medical Examiner’s Office in Texas.

King Jay’s body was found inside a backpack in an open field in San Antonio, Texas, near the home of his father, Christopher Davila.

Davila admitted that he buried his son and took investigators to the site, located about one mile from his residence.

The father said he was playing video games while King Jay was on his bed inside a car seat but not strapped in. Davila said that when he sat on the bed, the seat fell to the floor with King Jay inside, causing him to land face-first on the floor.

A lump began to form on the boy’s head, and Davila claimed he was too scared to call 911.

He checked on King Jay a few hours later, discovering he was dead, according to KSAT.

Police said that Davila then carried out a staged kidnapping with the help of family members.

Other than Davila, Beatrice Sampayo, 65, was arrested in connection with the child’s death. Angie Torres, 45, was also arrested.

Sampayo and Torres are facing a charge of tampering with evidence, a felony.

Davila is facing charges of injury to a child causing serious bodily injury—omission, child endangerment, tampering with evidence, felony possession of a firearm, and possession with the intent to deliver a controlled substance, KSAT reported.

It’s not clear if Davila will face murder charges after the boy’s autopsy results were revealed.

It comes two weeks after Torres was attacked by three inmates while using the bathroom, KSAT reported.

Christopher Davila, King Jay's father, took the child to the dead end of Castle Lance to show officials where the boy was buried. He's facing a litany of charges (San Antonio Police)

And Sampayo, the grandmother of King Jay Davila, was spat on by another inmate in jail, and she didn’t opt to press charges against the other prisoner, according to officials.

Sampayo and Torres have since been placed under protective custody, and the three inmates who attacked Torres are under criminal investigation for the beating.

Details of the Case

“We have statements from multiple witnesses that lead us to believe that King Jay is deceased,” San Antonio Police Chief William McManus said Jan. 10. “We charged [Davila, Sampayo and Torres] with tampering with evidence because we believe that they participated in staging the kidnapping to hide King Jay’s body so we couldn’t find it to determine what happened to him.”

Davila then allegedly said he “panicked and tried to” keep his son awake “and was afraid to call 911,” the arrest affidavit stated.

Jasmine Gonzalez, the child’s mother, is also under investigation.

“Every parent out there, everyone understands, ‘How can someone do that to a child?’” McManus said on Jan. 10, ABC reported.

“This kidnapping was used as a ruse to cover up what we believe early on was foul play. What other purpose would you fake a kidnapping other than to hide something?”