More than four years after 2-month-old Sevyn Simmons stopped breathing at a Monee truck stop, his father has been arrested in Montana on homicide charges brought in Will County.
Monee police said 35-year-old Kelsey Simmons, a Tennessee man, was charged in his son's 2022 death. Patch reported that Helena police took him into custody Tuesday after a high-risk felony stop.
A Call Before 9 a.m.
On the morning of Aug. 31, 2022, Monee officers and paramedics responded to the Petro truck stop at 5915 Monee Manhattan Road, just east of the Interstate 57 interchange. NBC Chicago reported the call came at about 8:52 a.m. for an infant boy who was unresponsive and not breathing.
Sevyn, who lived in Milwaukee, was there with his parents, including his father. The family had stayed overnight in a company truck and planned to return to Wisconsin. Firefighters resuscitated him, NBC Chicago reported, and he was transferred to Comer Children's Hospital.
He died at the hospital several days later. FOX 32 Chicago reported that his parents told police he stopped breathing while they slept with him in a semitrailer. CBS News Chicago reported they also said he had not been sick and that they did not know why he had stopped breathing.
How the Death Was Classified
The Cook County Medical Examiner's Office said Sevyn suffered a traumatic head injury. Shaw Local reported that the office deemed the death a homicide from closed head injuries.
Charges did not come with that ruling. WGN-TV reported that the parents were not in custody when its early account was published, and FOX 32 reported that no charges had been announced.
Three Counts, Four Years On
Monee police and the Will County State's Attorney's Office obtained a homicide warrant for Simmons earlier this month. Patch reported the warrant was issued Thursday, Nov. 5, for the Memphis man, now 35.
Will County court documents, as described by Patch, list three counts of murder alleging intent to kill or injure. Separate reporting on the same case said he was wanted on three homicide counts. The charges are accusations. They are not a conviction.
The Stop in Helena
The U.S. Marshals Service worked with the Helena Police Department on Tuesday's arrest while Simmons was traveling through the Helena area. Monee police said he was awaiting extradition to Illinois.
Patch, describing a petition from the Will County State's Attorney's Office, reported an allegation that Sevyn's mother told hospital workers Simmons had said he fell asleep, causing the baby to roll off his legs and onto the floor of the truck. That account is what the petition alleges, not a finding about the injury.
Simmons was in custody awaiting extradition to Illinois, where the Will County case is pending.
