Gloucester Township Man Charged With Child Murder: Prosecutor

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — A Gloucester Township man has been charged with murder in the death of a 3-year-old girl, the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office announced Tuesday evening. Police say 22-year-old Travis Graham hit the child across the forehead, causing her to fall down the steps.

Graham brought his live-in girlfriend’s daughter to Kennedy University Hospital in Stratford on March 13, 2017, according to authorities. The toddler was airlifted to Cooper University Hospital where she was later diagnosed with a severe traumatic brain injury.

Doctors noted that the child had multiple bruises to her body, extremities and head, as well as multiple healing rib fractures, according to authorities. They noted that “the history, physical examination, and diagnostic studies are diagnostic of child physical abuse to a medical degree of certainty.”

She died the following day. An initial autopsy determined the cause of death to be blunt head trauma, but the manner of death couldn't be determined.

At first, Graham told authorities she fell while she was watching her, and he caught her before she hit the bottom of the steps. When he was unable to wake her up later on, he brought her to the hospital. According to the complaint, it was about three hours between the time Graham sent a text to the girl's mother telling her the child fell down the steps and the time he ultimately took her to the hospital.

“(She just threw a hissy fit and dropped dead weight while walking up the stairs,” he said in a text at 12:38 p.m. The hissy fit he referred to was allegedly because he sent her to bed after she cracked the screen of her iPad.

“Her head is pretty bad with bruises,” he said at 1:35. At 3:26, he wrote, “Going in emergency room.”

Last month, Graham was arrested in connection with three armed robberies. Seven days after his arrest, he told police that on the day he had been watching the girl, she refused to take a nap. He said she pinched him, so he “backhanded her in the forehead,” according to the probable cause statement.

He said he hit her so hard, she spun around and fell down the steps face first. He said she was unresponsive at the bottom of the steps, and that he changed her clothes and brought her to the hospital within five minutes of her fall down the stairs.

During a pretrial detention hearing on the robberies on July 30, Assistant Prosecutor Christine Shah revealed that Graham may end up being charged with the child’s murder. Then, on Aug. 2, the Medical Examiner’s Office amended its findings to rule the child’s death a homicide.

Finally, Graham was charged with one count of first-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child on Tuesday, Aug. 14.

Graham was arrested on Wednesday, July 11, after police received tips from members of the community linking Graham to the armed robbery at the Pine Run Deli.

The robbery took place on Wednesday, June 27, when Graham walked into the deli wearing an “Atco Dragway” hooded sweatshirt. He covered his face with a bandana before pulling out a knife and demanding money from the clerk, police said.

He then fled the store and ran around the back of the deli, toward Lower Landing Road. The next day, police released images and video of Graham from the scene.

After he was arrested, Graham was connected to two other armed robberies. He is accused of serving as the getaway driver in an armed robbery that took place at the same deli on Jan. 24 of this year.

In that incident, 32-year-old Brian Smith, of Washington Township, stands accused of robbing the Pine Run Deli while wearing a Joker mask. Police said he robbed the store using a black semi-automatic handgun. Smith was arrested in April, after Gloucester Township police received tips from the community.

Graham has also been charged with stealing money and cigarettes from the Pantry One in Glendora on Feb. 3, 2017. Gloucester Township police worked with New Jersey State Police to resolve these cases.

In the robberies, Graham charged with two counts of first-degree robbery, one count of first-degree conspiracy to commit robbery, one count of second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (firearm), one count of third-degree unlawful possession of a weapon (handgun) one count of third-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose (knife) and one count of fourth-degree unlawful possession of a weapon (knife).

He is being held in Camden County Jail while awaiting further court proceedings.

Smith was charged with first-degree robbery, third-degree terroristic threats and second-degree possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.