Dad Pleads Guilty In Slaying Of 3-Month-Old Girl In Lakewood

TOMS RIVER, NJ — A Lakewood man has pleaded guilty to killing his 3-month-old daughter, who died in May of a subdural hematoma that a medical examiner said was caused by blunt force trauma to the head, the Ocean County Prosecutor's Office said Thursday.

Ruben Santiago, 36, pled guilty Thursday to aggravated manslaughter before Superior Court Judge Guy P. Ryan in the May 6 death of his daughter in Lakewood, Prosecutor Bradley D. Billhimer said.

The baby was found limp and unresponsive when the baby's mother, Caitlin M. Gibson, 28, called 911 because she was having trouble breathing on the evening of May 5, according to the probable cause affidavit in the case. The baby was taken to Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township and later transferred to the pediatric intensive care unit at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune, where she was pronounced dead on May 6, authorities have said.

Santiago had offered multiple explanations for what happened leading up to the couple's baby being taken to Jersey Shore University Medical Center on the evening of May 5, according to the probable cause affidavit.

Santiago and Gibson were charged with murder May 7, following an autopsy by Ocean County Medical Examiner Dr. Elizabeth Rouse. The baby girl had two skull fractures in addition to the hematoma, and seven broken ribs and a fractured wrist that were in the process of healing at the time of her death, Rouse said in her report.

The charges against Gibson remain pending.

The couple, who have another child, have been in the Ocean County Jail since their arrests.

Santiago is scheduled to be sentenced on March 4, and prosecutors said they will be seeking a 25-year prison sentence subject to the terms of the No Early Release Act.

Gibson declined to speak with law enforcement at the time of her arrest, authorities said. At the hospital, she told officers that the baby had been vomiting on May 3 and had been taken to the emergency room to be examined. The girl was given intravenous fluids and released from the hospital, according to the affidavit.

The baby continued to vomit the following day, and on May 5, Santiago noticed she was limp when he changed her diaper, between 6 and 7 p.m., the affidavit said. Gibson called 911 about 7:20 p.m. that day, according to the affidavit.

At Gibson's detention hearing, Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Meghan O'Neill said evidence collected in the case includes a search on Gibson's phone on May 3 for information regarding a bump on a baby's head. That bump was not reported to law enforcement, she said.