A 22-year-old New Hampshire man stands accused of beating his girlfriend’s 23-month-old son to death when he was alone with the boy and she was grocery shopping.

Annthoni Bliss is charged with second-degree murder in the January 2024 death of Luca Hudson, the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. The Keene Police Department and medical personnel responded the morning of Jan. 14, 2024, to an apartment for a young child in medical distress. They arrived to find Luca unconscious and not breathing. Paramedics rushed him to the hospital where he died three days later, just a month shy of his second birthday.

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A year-plus long investigation led to charges being filed against Bliss, who had started dating Luca’s mother about a month prior to the incident after knowing each other for several years, a probable cause arrest affidavit said. The medical examiner determined the cause of death to be blunt force trauma to the head and the manner of death homicide.

Bliss and the boy’s mother denied doing anything to hurt Luca. Bliss had been staying at his girlfriend’s apartment along with Luca and the boy’s older brother, cops said. Detectives noted that Luca showed no signs of injury in the days leading up to his death.

Through interviews and reviewing surveillance footage, investigators believe the abuse happened the night before cops responded to the apartment when Luca’s mother made a nearly hour-long trip to the grocery store, according to the affidavit. In text messages between her and Bliss while she was out, the defendant made no mention that anything may have been amiss. He said Luca’s older brother had fallen asleep.

“How’s shopping baby,” Bliss allegedly texted her.

“going to check out now,” she responded.

“Okay my love,” Bliss texted.

A mother in Florida is accused of terrorizing her son and a 65-year-old man who took the pair into his home to let them live with various forms of torture and abuse, like making her child “sit in a squatted position for hours on end” and striking the man with random objects, including a knife and “sharpening tool” on one occasion, cops say.

“She is f—ing strong,” the man allegedly told investigators after being questioned about the abuse, according to Miami ABC affiliate WPLG.

Jasmine Jean-Baptiste, 31, is accused of beating and pummeling the sexagenarian so badly that police say he is now blind in one eye. She allegedly “exploit(ed) his compassion and concern for her children,” according to the Miami Shores Police Department, and tortured her son behind closed doors in the process.

“A witness reported observing a significant and consistent pattern of abuse, including multiple instances of battery on various occasions,” the police report states, per WPLG. “The victim further provided photographs from various incidents, which depicted bruising, contusions and facial lacerations consistent with his account of abuse.”

A mother in Hawaii is behind bars, along with her girlfriend, for allegedly starving and beating her 3-year-old daughter to death using belts, paddles, sticks and slippers to pound on the toddler — while also limiting her water intake to 8 ounces a day — along with her three of her siblings, ages 2 through 6, who managed to survive the “disturbing” abuse, according to police.

“First responders found Sarai malnourished and pulseless, with ashen skin and bruises to her legs, hips, arms, face, back and head,” explained Honolulu Police Department Lt. Deena Thoemmes at a press conference last Thursday after announcing the arrests of Janae Perez and Ashley Utley for the death of Perez’s daughter, Sarai Perez-Rivera, in June 2024, according to Hawaii News Now.

“Through the investigation, it was learned that Janae and Ashley limited Sarai and her siblings intake of water and food,” Thoemmes said. “Janae and Ashley did not allow them to eat often and only allowed them to drink 8 ounces of water a day.”

A Florida woman is behind bars after authorities say she neglected a girl with cerebral palsy before leaving her at a hospital and never returning or answering desperate calls from doctors.

According to a probable cause affidavit from investigators with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, the investigation began when the caregiver, 37-year-old Mikaela Jazmine Green, brought the girl to Wolfson Children’s Hospital on June 23. Green told doctors the girl, who not only has cerebral palsy but also suffers from a brain injury, a seizure disorder, is dependent on a feeding tube and wheelchair, had been vomiting for over a week and had a fever, the affidavit said.

More from Law&Crime: Starved 2-month-old looked like ‘Holocaust survivor’ after being taken away from neglectful mother: Cops

Green left the hospital after staff admitted the girl and allegedly never came back. She failed to answer phone calls from the hospital, the Department of Children and Families and cops, according to the affidavit. She had a feeding machine for the girl and never bothered to take it to the hospital, cops noted.

Doctors determined the girl was in the 2nd percentile for weight, length and body mass index, the affidavit said. The girl, who is nonverbal, also had sores throughout her body including on her elbows, hips and upper back, per doctors. Investigators researched the child’s medical history and determined she had not seen a pediatrician since February 2023, a neurologist since April 2023 and a nutritionist since September 2023. Experts said given the girl’s condition, she should be seen by a doctor every three months or so. They also determined the girl had lost about 20 pounds in the last nine months, the affidavit said.

Detectives also learned that the child’s wheelchair had been broken for at least a year and Green never obtained a new one, according to cops.

A Florida woman is behind bars after admittedly producing child sexual abuse material involving her own toddler at the request of a complete stranger on the internet, authorities allege.

Jenna Ann Hoffmann, 21, stands accused of one count each of cruelty toward a child by directing or promoting sexual performance, lewd and lascivious molestation of a victim under 12 years of age, possession of sexual performance of a child with intent to promote, use of a two-way communication device to facilitate a felony and larceny, according to Hernando County Sheriff’s Office records.

When questioned about the incident, the mother allegedly told investigators she agreed to produce the illicit videos in exchange for money that she never received.

A husband and wife are charged with sexually abusing a student while holding prominent roles at Damascus Christian School in Damascus, Oregon. David Alan Wakefield, 60, had been the principal and athletic director until 2020 while his wife, Rachel Jean Wakefield, 54, was a substitute teacher and coach.

Authorities in Clackamas County claim the two abused a student for approximately four years, starting when she was 14. Detectives worry that there could be more victims, and accordingly, they are seeking information from the public.

From deputies:

Anyone with information on possible additional criminal activity by David and Rachel Wakefield is urged to contact the Sheriff’s Office Tip Line — by phone at 503-723-4949 or by using the online form. Please reference CCSO Case # 22-020999.

You can submit online tips here.

A Minnesota woman visiting a hotel with her husband and their children sexually abused two 15-year-old hockey players staying at the same establishment, according to authorities in Ramsey County.

Allison Leigh Schardin, 38, is charged with criminal sexual conduct in the third degree and criminal sexual conduct in the fourth degree.

The complaint viewed by Law&Crime said that several youth hockey teams were visiting the hotel from out of state for a tournament in the area. On the night of Jan. 14, members of a team went to the hotel’s pool area after dinner. Schardin was in the sauna, authorities said.

Meeting the victims

From the complaint:

V1 said rather than go to the pool right away, he was in his room packing for their return trip home the next day when he received a photo of SCHARDIN from a teammate with a message telling him “you wouldn’t believe what happened” and telling him to come down to the pool area and hang with the team, so he did.

Schardin allegedly left the sauna for the hot tub, joining three victims. According to cops, she told them about problems with her marriage and that she had sex with a hockey player, aged 18 to 20, several weeks before.

A church youth group leader said he did not intend on “hurting anybody” when touching a little girl’s private parts, but later told investigators that he “gave in to temptation,” according to a press statement and an affidavit viewed by Law&Crime.

The Polk County Sheriff’s Office in Florida announced on Wednesday that Richard Scott Shaw, 69, was charged with lewd molestation and awaits extradition from Wyoming.

Deputies said that law enforcement counterparts in the defendant’s home state are investigating whether he might have abused other kids. He had access to them as a worship and church youth group leader for “Under Command Ministries” in Freemont County.