Dyllan Towles: Idaho man gets 50 years in prison for killing infant daughter by ‘violently’ beating and shaking her 20 times
Warning: This article contains a recollection of crime and can be triggering to some, readers’ discretion advised.
SPIRIT LAKE, IDAHO: A man in Idaho's Spirit Lake will spend decades in prison after he admitted to killing his newborn daughter by “violently" beating and shaking the 2-month-old infant to death in 2021.
As per Krem, Kootenai County District Judge Barbara Duggan on Tuesday, January 23, ordered Dyllan Dwight Towles to serve a sentence of 50 years in a state correctional facility for slaying the little girl, authorities announced.
What did Dyllan Towles do?
In relation to his daughter's death, Towles entered a guilty plea to one lesser count of second-degree murder last year, according to court records. When he has completed at least 25 years of his term, he will be eligible for parole.
In a press release issued by the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, Towles stated that his 2-month-old infant was not breathing when he contacted 911 on Saturday, September 18, 2021. First responders discovered the toddler "laying face up and unresponsive on the floor" when they arrived at the scene.
While attempting life-saving measures, officers said they observed visible injuries on the child, which included, "a large circular bruise on her cheek, a bruise on her right leg, and bite marks on her left forearm, left ankle, and below her knee".
The victim was rushed to the hospital where she was pronounced dead. In response to questions about the events leading up to him calling 911, Towles said that everything was normal. On a prior day his daughter slept excessively and the next morning everything seemed fine. But later, the victim began “to look off to the side and not respond when he (Towles) snapped his fingers,” the release stated.
Towles 'bit' his 2-month-old daughter
When asked about the observed injuries, Towles claimed that he "bit" the child, "shook" her "pretty violently" approximately 20 times, and "played with her legs" in an attempt to gain a response from the child after she suddenly became unresponsive, prosecutors wrote, as per Law and Crime.
The infant had blunt force injuries to her head, neck, body, and extremities, according to an autopsy performed by the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office, officials said.
“Specifically, fractures were found on the child’s rib, arm, shoulder, and both of her femurs. A spinal cord injury was also found on the child in addition to bleeding and swelling of the brain," stated the press release.
Experts concluded that the newborn’s death was “definitely due to abusive head trauma inflicted on the child".
A grand jury subsequently returned a true bill indicting Towles on the charge of first-degree murder and he was arrested on July 6, 2023.
"Later that evening, officers from the Post Falls Police Department located Towles and arrested him on the warrant. Following the arrest, Detective Neil Uhrig (formerly of the Post Falls Police Department) interviewed Towles. At first, Towles repeated his original story to Detective Uhrig. However, Towles eventually broke down and admitted to shaking his infant child out of frustration because she would not eat and would not stop crying.”
Prosecutors claimed that Towles was first accused of statutory rape in 2019 but was ultimately found guilty of felony injury to a child.
Authorities said that Towles, who was 19 at the time, was in a sexual relationship with a girl who was 15 years old. At the time of the murder, he was still on probation for this offense.
