Death tale adds to father's heartbreak

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Robert Killion was shocked when he heard his infant son was dead but taken aback even more when a family friend's young child started talking about how it happened.

Stephanie Ledford, the baby's mother, had claimed the 8-month-old boy died from natural causes, and Killion said he thought that to be true. Then a 4-year-old witness said he watched Ledford, 21, place a pillow over the crying infant's face and hold it until the baby stopped moving.

“He was everything to me.” Killion told KRQE News 13.

Killion turned to the people he calls family when times got tough. Earlier this year, Jerry Jackson and his daughter Georgia Kohr took in the couple and their baby, Robert Killion Jr.

They said Ledford later spent two months in jail for another incident but came back when she was released in June.

Two weeks later Killion said his whole world was taken away.

“I had her tell me, ‘Oh my God, he is not breathing,’ and handed me my dead son," Killion said. "I gave him CPR for about 20 to 30 minutes with the operator on the phone, and they were on the way. He didn't make it."

For weeks Killion thought the baby died of natural causes. Ledford acted as upset as he did but showed no signs that foul play was involved, he said.

But what Kohr's 4-year-old son described to Albuquerque police was no accident.

“He was up at the crib, and watched it happen," Kohr said. "He was right there beside her.

“He saw her get up and put the pillow over the baby's face.”

Police interviewed the child on Wednesday. Hours later Ledford confessed, according to investigators. Officers broke the news to Killion.

“She woke up between 5:30 and 6:30 cause the baby was crying," he said. "Changed his diaper, gave him a bottle, laid him back down. He continued to keep crying.

"She got frustrated, took a pillow and smothered him for over five minutes until he quit moving, and then she came and laid back down with me.”

Now the dreams Killion had for his son are gone.

”He was going to grow up and hopefully go into the military and make something of his life,” he said.

Jackson has known Killion for more than a decade and said he will always support his heartbroken friend.

“He knows that no matter what we are there for him," Jackson said. "I trust the man with my life. My heart goes out to him.”

Killion said he is taking life one day at a time. The only thing he wants now is a headstone for his son since he couldn't afford one when the child was buried.

Ledford remains jailed under a $250,000 bond.