Caretaker Charged in Toddler's Death Admits Kicking, Hitting, Squeezing

A St. Louis County man was charged with second-degree murder after admitting he kicked, hit, squeezed and then abandoned a two-year-old boy, authorities say.

Corey Miller, 24, is now in custody on $250,000 bail as St. Louis County Police continue to investigate.

The case began at 10:10 p.m. on April 8 when officers working in Jennings responded to a home in the 5600 block of Helen Avenue for reports of a sick child. The boy, identified as Cayden Carson, was unresponsive and was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Police originally considered Cayden's death suspicious, but later re-classified the case as a homicide. Miller confessed to injuring the boy and then leaving, police say. Along with murder, he is charged with abuse or neglect of a child.

Miller was not the child's father. Police told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that he was a caretaker known by the boy's family.

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