Man Charged In Death Of Infant At Hotel: Milford Police

MILFORD, CT — A man is facing charges in connection with the death of an infant found in a Milford hotel's bathtub Wednesday morning, according to police.

Dale Kirkland, 31, of Bridgeport, was charged with risk of injury to a minor and cruelty to persons.

He was held on $1 million bond and was expected to be arraigned in Milford Superior Court on Thursday. Additional charges are possibly pending, police said.

Police received a call from the Mayflower Motel on Woodmont Road at 11:06 a.m. Wednesday reporting that cleaning staff had found an unresponsive infant lying in the bathtub of a vacant room.

Officers performed CPR on the infant until paramedics arrived and took over life-saving measures.

The infant was taken to Yale-New Haven Hospital and declared dead at 11:56 a.m.

A police investigation found that Kirkland had been renting a room at the hotel and checked out Wednesday morning. Police believe Kirkland arrived at the motel with the infant Tuesday evening and checked out, leaving the infant behind.

Milford police announced Wednesday afternoon that they were searching for Kirkland as a person of interest in the case. With the help of Bridgeport police, Kirkland was located that night, and he was taken into custody and charged.