Graphic affidavit details fatal injuries to local toddler

A Gatesville toddler who died after he was found unresponsive at his family’s home was severely beaten and sexually assaulted, according to a graphic arrest warrant affidavit obtained by KWTX Tuesday.

Chet Shelton, 27, remained in the Coryell County Jail Tuesday charged with aggravated sexual assault of a child in connection with the death last Wednesday of Makai Brooks Lamar, 2.

The bond on the charge was set at $500,000.

A medical examiner at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences ruled the death a homicide and said it was caused by blunt force trauma to the head and internal injuries and that prior to his death the boy had been anally penetrated which caused “severe and distinct trauma,” Texas Ranger Jason Bobo, an investigator on the case, says in the affidavit.

The affidavit also shows a time line of events on that day during which Shelton told officers he “was in care, custody and control” of the boy.

Shelton, who, authorities say was the mother's boyfriend, told investigators he had been caring for the toddler “all of the majority of the day” while the child’s mother worked a double shift at a Gatesville restaurant.

During the interview Shelton told officers that the boy fell asleep on a living room couch and that later he moved the boy to his bedroom for the night.

Shelton said he stepped outside the house to smoke and when he returned to the house intending to take a shower, he went to check on the child, whom he found not breathing.

He said he attempted CPR but was not successful, so he carried the boy next door to where a deputy sheriff lived and an ambulance was called.

EMS personnel who responded to the scene told investigators they found the child nude on the neighbor’s floor, unresponsive.

The ambulance workers also told investigators they noticed injuries on the child that “appeared inconsistent with marks that might be left from emergency medical treatment,” such as CPR.

EMS personnel documented injuries to the head, face, abdomen and extremities “that included various bruises and burns.”

Also they said there “were at least three abrasions or lacerations that seem to be consistent with the child having been struck multiple times on the right side of the head.”

Gatesville police Officer Chris Cato, also in the affidavit, reported when he searched the boy’s bedroom he found a pillow that had a blood stain on it and also found a larger blood stain on a comforter that was on the child’s bed.

The affidavit also reveals Shelton has previous charges for three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in May 2007, four counts of indecency with a child sexual contact in May 2007, three counts of aggravated sexual assault of a child in December 2007, and two counts of aggravated assault causing serious bodily injury in October 2010.

Shelton is on parole after serving a sentence for injury to a child, Boyd said, and a parole revocation warrant was issued Monday.

He’s held without bond on that warrant.

The toddler was laid to rest Monday during a funeral service in Gatesville.

District Attorney Dustin Boyd said Monday additional charges are pending the outcome of the investigation.