Cocoa man indicted on murder charge in child's death

Update, June 23, 4:15 p.m.:

The Brevard County Grand Jury has charged a Cocoa man with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse in connection to the death of a 15-month old boy.

Nathaniel Aries Dotson, 20, was charged with first-degree felony murder and aggravated child abuse on Tuesday. The indictment was in connection to the death of 15-month-old Zamir Kendrick in May.

The Grand Jury heard testimony from two witnesses, a Cocoa Police detective and an associate Brevard County medical examiner before the charges were made, according to assistant state attorney Julia Lynch.

Dotson will make a first appearance tomorrow at the Brevard County Jail where he has been held since he was taken into custody by Cocoa Police on May 22.

Original story:

A man wanted in the death of a 15-month-old Cocoa boy who passed away earlier this turned himself in to police just after 10 p.m. on Friday night, according to Cocoa Police Department spokesperson Barbara Matthews.

Nathaniel Aries Dotson, 20, was speechless as he was led to a patrol car at the Cocoa Police Department.

Dotson was charged with felony first degree murder, aggravated child abuse and aggravated battery.

The child, identified as Baby Zamir, was rushed to Wuesthoff Hospital after Brevard County Fire-Rescue paramedics found him unconscious at an apartment at 800 N. Fiske Blvd. in Cocoa.

Initially, according to Matthews, he was to be charged with aggravated child abuse. However, when the results of an autopsy were released earlier on Friday that concluded the boy's death was a homicide caused by blunt force trauma to the head, the charges were upgraded.

"Very early on, the story he gave us and the evidence at the scene and the child injuries did not match up so we just had to continue to work the case until we could get the arrest warrant and that was today," Matthews said.

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"He knew there was a warrant for his arrest and he knew that we would be looking for him or that we had been looking for him and on the advice of family members and his attorney he turned himself in this evening," she added.

Matthews added that the case was personal for those working on it.

"Cases that involve children or people that actually can't protect themselves are very, very personal to police officers and although to some people that this case was moving slowly, these detectives did not rest a moment. They continued to follow up and talked to witnesses and do what they needed to do and again, they had to wait for medical findings."

She also said that Dotson did not speak to investigators while at the Cocoa Police Department per his attorney's advice.

He will be held in the Brevard County Jail without bond.

Contact Bonanno at 321-242-3662, cbonanno@floridatoday.com or follow Chris on Twitter @FTChrisBonanno.