KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A father accused of trying to drown his 6-month-old daughter in 2018 will spend several years behind bars.
Jonathon Zicarelli was arrested on Dec. 17, 2018, in Greenwood, Missouri, when he walked into the police department and claimed he drowned his child.
Luckily, the baby was found floating face-up in a pond. The baby had mud in her eyes and grass in her mouth and appeared to be in shock. CPR got her breathing normally again.
The child was taken to the hospital with severe hypothermia.
Zicarelli told detectives he was having "bad thoughts" and said he was stressed out by the holidays and thought killing his daughter would make it easier on his wife.
Investigators said Zicarelli confessed he had been planning to kill his baby for over 24 hours. He said he parked his car and walked down to the pond three separate times, trying to determine if he could kill her. He said he put her in the water and watched her sink, then got in his car and left.
Zicarelli was sentenced to 15 years in prison with credit for time served.
The former Greenwood, Missouri, police chief was indicted in November 2019 by a federal grand jury for assaulting Zicarelli while he was handcuffed and violating his constitutional rights.
In a plea agreement, Greg Hallgrimson also entered a guilty plea.
The plea agreement states Hallgrimson walked into the police station after recovering the baby and walked up to where Zicarelli was handcuffed in a chair, grabbed him, threw him to the ground, got on top of him, screamed at him and struck him in the face.
After that, Hallgrimson told employees he was resigning because of his action.
Hallgrimson faced up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine, but the plea agreement will allow him to be sentenced to probation for up to three years.
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