Death penalty sought

First Posted: 1/26/2015

LIMA — A man accused of killing a 17-month old child will face the death penalty.

Christopher Clayton, 20, was indicted on aggravated murder with a death penalty specification. Clayton is accused of causing the injuries that led to the Jan. 16 death of Xavier Wurth.

Xavier suffered blunt-force trauma to the back of his head, a forensic pathologist who performed the autopsy ruled.

Clayton’s arraignment is scheduled for Feb. 4. A death penalty specification can be added only under limited circumstances. In this case, Clayton is accused of being the principal offender in the death of a child under 13.

Clayton told a 911 operator the child choked on his own vomit. He said he believed the child suffocated. Those statements did not match the autopsy results and Clayton was arrested.

“We just woke up and I think our baby’s dead,” Clayton told a 911 operator.

Clayton told the operator he put the child to bed the evening before at 8 p.m. His call to 911 was placed at 11:57 a.m. the next day.

The child’s body was found in an upstairs hallway, officials said.

The incident happened inside an apartment at 229 Wurster St., in Spencerville. Clayton, who is from St. Marys, was living in the home with the child’s mother, Alexis Long. He had lived there less than a year, police officials said.

Spencerville Police Chief Darin Cook said it was clear by looking at the child at the scene that the death was suspicious. Cook immediately called sheriff detectives and the crime scene unit because his agency is small and does not have those resources.