An infant on life support has died. His Lakewood father has been charged with murder
A 2-month-old Lakewood boy who was on life support after allegedly being shaken by his father ”in a fit of rage” has died. The man is now accused of murder.
Prosecutors initially charged Fernandez Manaia Fruean, 27, with first-degree assault of a child on Dec. 19, 2024, court records show. Three days later, the baby died at a local hospital, and prosecutors increased the charges to two counts of second-degree murder and homicide by abuse.
Fruean has been in custody at the Pierce County Jail since his arrest Dec. 18. He appeared for a re-arraignment in Pierce County Superior Court on Friday morning. Several rows in the court’s gallery were filled with family members in support of the child.
A plea of not guilty was entered on Fruean’s behalf during the hearing. He continues to be held at the jail on $2 million bail.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office has not yet publicly identified the child’s identity or his official cause of death.
Mia McFarland, the baby’s aunt, told The News Tribune outside the courtroom that her family wants justice.
Fruean was convicted in April 2023 of second-degree criminal mistreatment after breaking his infant daughter’s femur. His daughter was placed in foster care following the conviction.
“We hope that the work the prosecutors are going to do will bring justice and make sure that things like this don’t happen to other children in the state of Washington, because this shouldn’t happen to any family,” McFarland said. “The sister is going to have to live to know her brother passed and it could’ve been prevented.”
Prosecutors allege in charging documents that Fruean shook his baby to get him to stop crying at about 3 a.m. on Dec. 18.
During questioning, Fruean allegedly admitted to detectives that he was angry and picked up the baby, shaking him “vigorously back and forth” for five minutes, prosecutors wrote. Fruean allegedly did not seek medical help for his son for six hours after shaking him and instead put him face down on his bed before going to sleep, documents show.
After the child’s mother came home from running errands later that morning, she saw Fruean holding their son and rocking him, documents show. They went to the hospital after she noticed their son was not moving. Fruean was the baby’s primary caretaker because the mother works.
Documents show that the baby had a brain bleed and four older rib fractures along with one clavicle fracture.
