AUBURN – A 23-year-old Auburn man was charged with murder Wednesday in the death of an 8-month-old baby.
Todd Gamache of 113 Broad St. was arrested at 3:45 p.m. Wednesday at a friend’s house and charged with causing the March 22 death of Emmy-Leigh Cole.
Gamache was indicted by an Androscoggin County grand jury earlier that afternoon.
A state medical examiner determined the cause of the infant’s death was a blunt impact head injury. Police said that finding was key to charging Gamache.
“Since March 22, we’ve been following up with the doctors to determine where we are today,” said Maine State Police Det. Sgt. Rick Fowler. Police met with the state Attorney General’s Office prosecutors and the medical examiner early Wednesday and were able to present the case to the grand jury later Wednesday.
“You use every piece of evidence and information that you can gather to reach a conclusion,” said Auburn police Chief Phil Crowell. “Based on the medical examiner’s report alone, the cause of death was determined to be a homicide.”
Gamache will be arraigned in Androscoggin Superior Court later this week, Crowell said.
Police said the 8-month-old Cole was with Gamache, her mother’s boyfriend, at the Broad Street home they shared just before the child was rushed to the hospital.
Auburn police and ambulance personnel answered a 911 call for an unresponsive child at the Broad Street home at about 8 p.m. on March 22. The baby was taken to a Lewiston hospital then transferred to Maine Medical Center in Portland and put on life support. She died Saturday.
Gamache was arrested over the weekend on unrelated warrants, but released Saturday on $1,750 bail from Androscoggin County Jail.
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