Police say the baby was found in a playpen months before arrests in Broward County.

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — A Florida mother and father were arrested April 8 after police said their 3-week-old son was suffocated, moved into a playpen and presented as if he had died in his sleep at a Hollywood home.

Crystal Garcia, 21, and Anfernee Watts, 25, are facing felony charges in Broward County after investigators said the couple gave changing accounts, cleaned parts of the home and waited before reporting the infant’s death. The case moved from an emergency medical response in August 2025 to a homicide investigation after the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office determined in March 2026 that the baby died by suffocation.

The first call came at about 1:44 p.m. on Aug. 1, 2025, when Hollywood police officers and Hollywood Fire Rescue crews were sent to a home in the 6000 block of Thomas Street for a report of an unresponsive infant. First responders found the baby inside a small playpen in a private room and he was pronounced dead at about 1:50 p.m. Detectives later wrote that the scene did not match the story the parents first gave them. Garcia told officers she had fed the baby, gone back to sleep and later noticed he was not making noise. “You know when you see someone when they passed, like it was like that,” Garcia told officers, according to the affidavit.

Watts initially told police he had left the home around 5:30 a.m. for a job interview in Miami after he and Garcia fed the child, changed his diaper and placed him in the playpen. Investigators later said they found no such job interview took place. They also said the couple shared one cellphone, and that the phone remained in the home. Garcia said she did not call 911 right away, did not try CPR and did not tell her mother, who was in the residence, because she did not want to stress her out. Police said that delay became a central point in the investigation as detectives compared the parents’ statements with evidence inside and outside the home.

Inside the room, detectives said they saw the infant lying face up, with his mouth open and white foam inside. They noted cracked lips, dried blood and a soiled diaper. In the bathroom, police reported a strong smell of bleach, an open window and cleaning supplies that appeared to have been used recently, including a mop, broom, wipes and a container with a cleaning agent. A car seat was found next to the playpen, and an Amazon Alexa device was found in the bathroom. Investigators also said a disposable changing pad in the playpen appeared to have blood spotting. The affidavit did not say that all of those items caused the death, but police described them as pieces of a scene that had been altered before officers arrived.

Detectives said the timeline changed after they obtained more information. Surveillance video from a Ring camera across the street showed Garcia outside about 30 minutes before the 911 call, carrying a large white garbage bag and what appeared to be a mop or broom to a trash bin. Watts later admitted he disposed of baby bottles and other items from the home, according to police. He also said he knocked over a jar of bleach and cleaned it up with wipes while Garcia was calling 911. Police said family members told investigators the baby had been healthy days earlier, including during a doctor’s visit on July 28, 2025. That detail raised the stakes for detectives trying to determine what happened between the visit and the emergency call.

Garcia later gave investigators a different account, police said. According to the affidavit, she said she put a gray pacifier in the baby’s mouth, tightly wrapped him in a blanket, secured the pacifier so he could not spit it out, strapped him into a car seat and placed the car seat in the bathtub. Detectives said she played lullabies on the Alexa device, closed the bathroom door and went back to sleep. Police wrote that Garcia heard the baby cry but ignored his distress for several hours. When she later saw that the child was unresponsive and appeared dead, investigators said, she did not immediately seek medical help and instead helped stage the scene to mislead law enforcement.

The Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office later determined the cause of death was suffocation and ruled the manner of death a homicide. Dr. Erin Ely, with the medical examiner’s office, had noted during the initial examination that the child had begun the process of decomposition, according to reports from the case. In March 2026, the finding gave detectives a medical basis to seek charges tied to the child’s death. The case also included the parents’ own later statements. Police said Garcia contacted the department and left a voicemail saying she had lied and that she had smothered the baby. Investigators said both Garcia and Watts admitted they had fabricated a story and placed the child back into the playpen to make it appear he died in his sleep.

Garcia is charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death and providing false information to law enforcement. Watts faces the same charges, along with obstructing a criminal investigation. Police said Watts’ alleged role included giving false statements, helping conceal what happened, disposing of items and participating in the staged account. The affidavit says both parents knowingly took part in efforts to hide the circumstances of the baby’s death. Court records and jail information reported after the arrests showed both defendants were being held at the Broward Main Jail without bond.

The case now turns on the records collected over eight months, including police interviews, surveillance footage, evidence from the home, the medical examiner’s ruling and the statements investigators say the parents made after the first report. It was not immediately clear when Garcia and Watts were next due in court or whether either had an attorney available to speak on their behalf. The charges are accusations, and both defendants are presumed innocent unless proven guilty in court.

The child’s death remains listed by authorities as a homicide by suffocation. Garcia and Watts remained in Broward County custody after their April 8 arrests, with the next public milestone expected to come through court scheduling and filings in the criminal case.

Author note: Last updated May 4, 2026.