Fridley Father Often Suffocated Infant To Sleep: Police

FRIDLEY, MN — A 23-year-old Fridley man has been charged in the March death of his infant son.

Aaron Michael Orlando Rathk was arrested on Friday and faces one count of second-degree murder (with intent, not premeditated). He remains at the Anoka County Jail on a $250,000 bail.

If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

On March 1 at about 7:30 p.m., the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an unresponsive five‐month‐old child named Kaiden in Fridley.

The father, identified as Rathke, and the child's mother drove their son to the Fridley Police Department after he stopped breathing. Kaiden did not have a pulse and was not breathing. He was transported to Children's Minnesota Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at about 8 p.m.

According to investigators, Rathke came home from work at about 5 p.m. on March 1. Kaiden was "fine" and he took him into the bedroom to change him, which is when the child me a "gurgling" sound, started vomiting, and then stopped breathing, the criminal complaint states.

Rathke said he gave Kaiden CPR for about 20 minutes until the child's head and body became "completely cold," according to police.

Rathke did not call 911 because there have been incidents they have been able to "bring him back," the criminal complaint states. The father said part of Kaiden's ribs felt "indented," but said he didn't know how it happened, according to police.

Rathke said he was diagnosed as bipolar and admitted to having "mini outbursts" and "blank out," which he described as being unable to recall what would happen. However, he denied having any mini outbursts with the child, the criminal complaint states.

On Sept. 27, the Hennepin County Medical Examiner’s Office released a report saying Kaiden died from multiple blunt force injuries and the manner of his death was homicide.

The child's injuries included subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhage, traumatic axonal injury of the brain and spinal cord, optic nerve sheath hemorrhage, scant retina hemorrhaging, and multiple acute and healing rib fractures with remote fracturing of the mid-thoracic spinal cord, the examiner said.

On Oct. 3, the child's mother told police in a voluntary statement that Kaiden's broken ribs were a result of Rathke doing chest compressions on the child. The father did this every time he was having a hard time getting Kaiden to sleep, she told police.

Additionally, the mother said she saw Rathke choke the child when he was three months old, according to investigators.

The child's mother said she had been scared to come forward because Rathe had been abusive to her as well as the child.