Courts
Eyota teenager accused of suffocating his 5-year-old brother
Prosecutors in Olmsted County believe a 5-year-old boy from Eyota may have been accidentally suffocated by his older brother, to stop him from crying and yelling.
The child’s teenage brother is charged with second-degree murder and strangulation, and is in juvenile detention.
Sheriff’s deputies were called to a house in Eyota on Monday to find that the younger child was not breathing.
He was pronounced dead at a Rochester hospital, with asphyxiation listed as the cause of death.
The brother, 17-year-old Kaleb Smith, says the child was upset and crying because of a dead bird, and he covered the boy’s mouth and held his nose shut for a minute or two to keep him quiet.
Smith is now being held at a detention center in Dakota County.