SPIRIT LAKE, Idaho — The following story contains graphic details related to a child's death. Reader discretion is advised:
A Spirit Lake man was sentenced to 50 years in prison for the murder of his two-month-old child.
Twenty-four-year-old Dyllan Dwight Towles was convicted of second-degree murder. According to the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney's Office, officers responded to Towles's home on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021, after he called saying his child was not breathing.
Officers arrived at the home to find the child lying face up and unresponsive. While attempting to revive the child, officers noticed several injuries, including a large circular bruise on her cheek, a bruise on her right leg and bite marks on her left arm, left ankle and below her knee.
The two-month-old girl was pronounced dead at the hospital. When questioned about the events leading up to the call, Towles claimed the baby was acting normally days before the call. But, as time went on, she began to sleep more excessively and not respond to Towles. When asked about the injuries, Towles admitted to biting the child and shaking her "pretty violently" around 20 times, trying to get a response. According to Towles, that was when the child stopped breathing.
An autopsy conducted by the Spokane County Medical Examiner's Office later revealed blunt force injuries to the child's head, neck and torso. The medical examiner also noticed new and old injuries, including a brain hemorrhage. However, the medical examiner was unable to determine the cause of death due to the child testing positive for COVID-19.
In December 2022, the medical examiner sent the autopsy report to the Kootenai County Prosecuting Attorney's Office to consult with doctors at the University of Utah and Washington State University. After an extensive review, the doctors were able to determine the child's cause of death as blunt force trauma, not COVID-19.
On July 6, 2023, officers with the Post Falls Police Department located and arrested Towles on a warrant for first-degree murder. When questioned again, Towles reportedly tried to stick to his original story but eventually broke down, admitting that he shook the child to death because she wouldn't eat or stop crying.
Towles was sentenced to 50 years in prison with parole eligibility after 25 years. He was previously convicted of felony injury to a child in 2019 when, at 19, he was discovered to be in a sexual relationship with a 15-year-old girl. He was still on probation for the charge at the time of the murder, according to the prosecutor's office.
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