Prosecutors: Father angry over eaten cake kills 5-year-old son

MILWAUKEE — Prosecutors say a Milwaukee father is accused of fatally punching his 5-year-old son because the boy ate some of the cheesecake he had gotten for Father’s Day.

Travis Stackhouse is charged with first-degree reckless homicide in the child’s death last Saturday. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the boy died from blunt force trauma to the abdomen. The boy suffered a ruptured stomach, bruised kidneys and a torn adrenal gland, the office said.

$100K cash bond for Travis Stackhouse, accused of fatally punching 5-year-old son https://t.co/YgzTAapyic pic.twitter.com/DRjZMNrt6f

— FOX6 News (@fox6now) June 27, 2019

Stackhouse also told police he hit the child’s face with the back of his hand and that he had a metal rod in his hand that would make punches painful.

He faces up to 60 years in prison, if convicted.

A complaint says the 29-year-old father initially told police his son was injured after falling down the stairs. Paramedics didn’t think the boy’s injuries were consistent with a fall and the boy’s 6-year-old brother told police he did not fall down the stairs.

Paramedics noticed bruising around his eyes, a cut to the lower lip and a laceration to the sternum.

Authorities say Stackhouse became angry his children were eating his cheesecake, went to a bar and returned about 2 a.m., at which time the mother of the child called 911.

When police interviewed Stackhouse, he did not know the birth dates for any of the five children he shared with his girlfriend, nor could he spell their names, the complaint states.

Stackhouse also told police that his girlfriend often warned him not to hit the children so hard, according to the complaint.

Court records don’t list an attorney who could speak on the defendant’s behalf.