A warrant was issued Dec. 19 for the arrest of a man in connection with his infant daughter’s death that occurred in June, according to court documents.
On the night of June 24, police received a call regarding the death of an infant at the Spenard Motel, according to court documents. When authorities responded, they found a 2-month-old baby deceased in a motel room on the kitchen counter.
Investigation revealed that the infant, whose mother was in custody at the time, was living in the motel room with her father, 29-year-old Aaron Vanormer. He now faces a manslaughter charge.
An uncle had also been assisting with care of the infant but left town for work a few days prior to the incident. The uncle revealed to investigators later that Vanormer would smoke what he believed was spice and “would become disoriented by the effects of the substance,” court documents say.
The victim’s grandfather, Frank Turner, says he went to check on Vanormer and the infant after not hearing from him for a few days. When he entered the motel room, Vanormer was in the bedroom “acting strangely” and the room was disheveled, charging documents say. The grandfather then went looking for the infant and found her in the bathtub.
“He felt her chest and noticed that she was cold and not breathing,” the charging documents state. “He quickly ran out of the bathroom and started yelling for someone to call 911.”
When the grandfather returned, Vanormer had moved his daughter’s body to the kitchen area of the room. When officers from the Anchorage Police Department arrived, “Vanormer was sitting in the bedroom and seemed to be distraught,” the documents say. He said the infant’s mother came to the motel room and placed the baby in the tub with her head “out of the water.”
An argument took place between Vanormer and the baby’s mother, he alleges in the court documents, later saying that he must have been hallucinating — though he denied taking any drugs or drinking alcohol. Police didn’t make an arrest that night.
An autopsy conducted on the baby’s body revealed a small amount of fluid in the infant’s lungs, “but not enough to conclusively say that her cause of death was drowning,” the documents state, adding that there were no signs of trauma that could account for her death. The autopsy did indicate that the infant had likely been deceased for several hours prior to her grandfather discovering her.
An “apparent suicide note” turned up as officers conducted a search of the motel room:
To the family: I am so sorry that I could help bring such a beautiful girl in this world and then snuff that life right out I could not go on living looking at you all and be like nothing happened.
Vanormer later denied writing the note, the court documents say. When he was later in custody, however, he expressed “suicidal ideations,” including feeling responsible for his daughter’s death.
Charging documents detail Vanormer’s extensive criminal history, including two prior felony charges. A District court judge has issued a $50,000 arrest warrant for the manslaughter charge.
