A toddler is Anne Arundel County’s first homicide of 2016 and police have a suspect in custody.
Police charged Dason Darius Hogan with first degree murder, second degree murder, child abuse first degree death and assault in connection to the death of two-year-old Michael Lee-Ashley Stem.
Police said around 11:40 a.m. on March 7 police and fire crews responded to the Royal Inn in the 1600 block of Annapolis Road for a cardiac incident involving a child.
Authorities transported a 2-year-old, identified as Michael Lee-Ashley Stem to Baltimore Washington Medical Center where he later died.
An autopsy found the child died of blunt force trauma.
An investigation led police to Dason Hogan, the boyfriend of child’s mother. Police said Hogan had been watching the child while his mother was at work on March 7. Surveillance video shows Hogan and the boy entering the motel room with the child in good health. No one else entered or exited the room until the mother was called and she returned to check on the boy’s medical condition.
Following a search of the motel room and conflicting statements from Hogan, police arrested him Friday at the Royal Inn without incident.
Anyone with information is urged to call police at 410-222-4731.
