LAWRENCE — A Lawrence man suspected of killing a 15-month-old boy in Maine is on the run and could be heading back to the city, police said.
Edgard Anziani, 27, has not been seen since early Tuesday, when the baby's mother left her child with Anziani so she could go to the hospital. Rescue crews found toddler Damien Christopher Lynn unresponsive with broken bones, head injuries and a human bite mark on his right arm. Authorities said Anziani is not the boy's father.
Lawrence police Chief John Romero confirmed his department received a telephone call yesterday from Bangor police requesting assistance in finding Anziani.
"Detectives Thomas Burke and Alan Andrews were dispatched to his last known address and he was not there," Romero said.
"We're actively looking for him. A BOLO (Be on the Lookout) has been put out to all units in the department. And if we find him, he will be charged on a fugitive from justice warrant. He is somebody who is known to the Lawrence police," the chief said.
According to a police affidavit, Anziani told police that the baby had fallen down a flight of stairs. The baby's 22-year-old mother had left the house at 2:30 a.m. Tuesday to go to the hospital for abdominal pain, and was not at home when police and rescue crews arrived at her 55 Bald Mountain Drive apartment a few hours later.
Anziani met the ambulance in the driveway and handed over the child who "was blue and not breathing," the affidavit states.
Anziani, who was alone with the child, told police that the baby had awakened around 4:30 a.m. and was screaming, and after attempting to comfort him, he went to the downstairs kitchen to warm a bottle of milk.
"While in the kitchen, Anziani heard a thumping noise and found Damien collapsed on the middle landing of the stairway," the court document states.
Because he was unfamiliar with the area, he called his girlfriend's mother, who called 911 at 6:58 a.m., the affidavit said.
Damien's body was taken to the medical examiner's office in Augusta. Dr. Marguerite DeWitt conducted an autopsy Wednesday. She determined the boy's injuries "could not be explained by a simple fall down six or seven steps," the affidavit states.
"The cause of death is listed as non-accidental trauma, and the manner of death has been classified as a homicide," Bangor police Sgt. Paul Edwards said Thursday afternoon.
The autopsy states the child had "trauma to the brain" that was multifocused, "meaning that they were on all sides of his head, including the front, back, left, right and top," and he had optic nerve hemorrhages, the affidavit states.
The child also had two broken bones in his right forearm, "consistent with a twisting or bending type cause," four broken ribs, an abdominal injury, and three small puncture wounds on the bottom of his left foot, it states.
Anziani had been staying with the child's mother on and off for about four months, according to police. The woman had left her child with a baby sitter and driven to Massachusetts Monday afternoon to pick up Anziani and had returned home about 11:30 that night.
The mother "said that Damien was asleep in his crib when she arrived and she went in to check on him and he was fine," the court document states. She went to bed at midnight and woke up about 2:30 a.m. with stomach pains. She called her baby sitter to come back to the house, but the woman was not able to, so the mother left her sleeping child with Anziani and got a ride to the hospital from her mother.
The baby sitter and a neighbor, who saw the child on Monday afternoon, and the boy's mother all reported to police that there were no bruises or marks on the child the last time they saw him.
The boy's mother wrote on her Facebook page, "I can still see your smile, i can still hear your laugh, i can still feel your touch, & i cant help but to miss you so much! Your my pride & joy. Your mama's lil boy. I love you DBug! I love u so much!"
The main photo on her page Thursday afternoon was a picture of her son wearing a red plastic fireman's hat, smiling at the camera.
The mother says on the Internet page that she is attending college and that her other son, a 2-year-old, is living with his father in Georgia.
Sasha Stecher, a friend of the mother and boy, left the following message on the Facebook page, "RIP lil D auntie loves you && ill never forget your smiling face ... I love you && miss you punkin."
In a phone interview Thursday afternoon, Stecher said she was in the process of distributing "wanted posters" to stores and bars around Bangor. The fliers feature a picture of Anziani and the baby boy.
