Federal Way man arrested after son burns to death in backyard fire pit

A Federal Way man who said he fell asleep near a backyard fire pit and woke to find his infant son burned to death has been arrested for investigation of first-degree manslaughter.

The 37-year-old man was arrested at 4:45 p.m. Tuesday after he was taken into custody by police for questioning, according to Cathy Schrock, spokeswoman for the Federal Way Police Department. He was later booked into the King County Jail in Seattle.

Police were trying to determine what exactly led up to the 7-month-old's death, which was reported at 12:02 a.m. Sunday after the infant was pulled from the fire pit. Police said the baby suffered burns to his entire body.

Police earlier had searched the house in the 2600 block of Southwest 333rd Place and took a sample of the man's blood to determine whether he had been using alcohol, Schrock said.

Neighbors said Tuesday the man and his wife had held a party at their home Saturday evening just hours before the baby was found in the fire pit.

Cars were parked five deep in the driveway and lined the cul-de-sac, said a next-door neighbor who would give only her first name: Melinda. She said she has known the family since they moved into the small, single-story home about a year and a half ago.

"It was case after case of beer going on back there," Melinda said. She could see the party from her bedroom window. A fire blazed in the family's fire pit, she said.

Around 9:30 or 10 p.m. the party quieted down. Guests left, but the fire continued to burn.

Around midnight, Melinda said, she woke her husband after hearing a woman shrieking from the neighbors' home.

By the time the couple got outside, an ambulance was already there and police were cordoning off the neighbors' lot with crime-scene tape. Soon the cul-de-sac was full again, but this time with police cars, she said.

According to police, the father said he fell asleep with the child on a bench near the fire pit. When he awoke, he said, the baby was gone.

Police said he went inside the house looking for his son. When he came back, he found the infant in the fire pit, Schrock said.

Officers arrived to find the father clutching the lifeless child, she said.

"As a parent, I can't imagine sleeping through something like that," Melinda said.

Police declined to say how far the bench was from the fire pit, which they described as a hole dug in the backyard.

The man was arrested in 2004 on suspicion of driving with an open container of alcohol and on suspicion of negligent driving. In 2001, he was arrested on suspicion of felony harassment and two counts of fourth-degree assault, according to King County court documents. In 1995, he was charged with possession of heroin under an alias, according to court documents.

The man had been staying with family friend Shirley Squires and her family before his arrest Tuesday. Squires said the man had gone out Tuesday to make funeral arrangements.

"He's coherent, but he's still really distraught," Squires said.

The man's wife and their other child are staying elsewhere with family, Squires said.

Karen Lee, spokeswoman for the state Department of Social and Health Services, said her office has had no previous contact with the family.

She said there is also a 4-year-old child, who has not been removed from the home.

"The 4-year old sibling appears to be safe and with the mother, who has agreed to a safety plan," Lee said. The mother has been very cooperative, Lee said.

Officials at the King County Medical Examiner's Office said they expect to announce the cause of the baby's death today.

Leslie Anne Jones: 206-464-2745 or ljones@seattletimes.com

Information from Seattle Times staff reporters Maureen O'Hagan and Natalie Singer and news researcher Miyoko Wolf are included in this report.