A 4-year-old autistic boy who suffered severe burns in July has died, and the man accused of burning him has now been charged with murder, the Forsyth County Sheriff's Office said Thursday,Â
James Wilford Huff, 34, of Cain Forest Drive is charged with felony murder in the boy’s death, the sheriff’s office said. The sheriff’s office didn’t identify the boy.
Huff also is charged with felony intentional child abuse, inflicting serious injury, the sheriff’s office said.
Huff was being held Thursday night in Forsyth County Jail with no bond allowed, the sheriff’s office said. Huff is scheduled to appear Friday in Forsyth District Court.
The boy suffered third-degree burns July 21 when he was placed in a bathtub with scalding water and cleaning fluid, court records show.
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The boy was taken to Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center for treatment, according to a search warrant.
Huff also is charged with attempting to destroy evidence connected to the case, assault on a government official and resisting a public officer, according to an arrest warrant.
Forsyth County sheriff’s deputies arrived at the home shortly after 11:50 p.m. July 21 in the 6000 block of Cain Forest Drive in Walkertown on a report of child abuse, according to the search warrant and the sheriff’s office said.
The deputies went to the home after the boy arrived at the medical center’s Brenner’s Children Hospital with severe burns on his lower body from being “placed in a tub of scalding liquid,†the warrant said.
Huff was taking care of the boy while the victim’s mother was at her job, the warrant said. When the mother returned home, she found her son wearing pajamas and lying on a couch.
The mother saw that her son’s feet was burned with skin falling from them, the warrant said. The mother then immediately took the boy to the hospital.
At the home, the deputies were told that the victim was burned after he pulled a pot of boiling water and a cleaning solution onto himself, according to the search warrant.
Investigators determined that the boy had been placed in a tub of scalding-hot water, the sheriff’s office said. The victim had injuries that were consistent with being burned by the hot water.
Neither the court records nor the sheriff’s office identified the boy or his mother.
When investigators attempted to lock the home to prepare it for their search, Huff was accused of attempting to clean the bathtub in his effort to destroy evidence in the case, the warrant said.
Huff then assaulted the deputies who stopped him, and they arrested him, the warrant said.
Huff is accused of resisting and assaulting Cpl. Dylan Butcher of the sheriff’s office by disobeying Butcher’s commands and attempting to shove past Butcher to destroy evidence, an arrest warrant says.
Among the items that investigators seized in their search was a towel from the kitchen floor, a blue pot from the stove, liquid from the pot, two bottles of Fabulosa, a cleaning fluid, and skin from the bathtub, the warrant said.
“Any threat or harm to our children becomes a priority to the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office,†Sheriff Bobby Kimbrough Jr. said in a statement . “As we have stated, our most precious asset is our children, who are our future, and the (sheriff’s office) will do everything earthly possible to serve and protect them.â€