HOLLYWOOD, FL (Boca Post) (Copyright © 2026) — A South Florida infant death first reported as a medical emergency in Hollywood is now a homicide case, with both parents jailed on multiple felony charges after Broward investigators said the 3-week-old boy died from suffocation inside a home on Thomas Street.
Hollywood Police Department announced April 9 that Anfernee Watts, 25, and Crystal Garcia, 21, were arrested a day earlier with help from the U.S. Marshals Fugitive Task Force. Both are charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child, child neglect causing great bodily harm, tampering with or fabricating physical evidence, failure to report a death to the medical examiner, and providing false information to law enforcement. Police said both are being held without bond.
The case began Aug. 1, 2025, when officers and Hollywood Fire Rescue were sent to 6660 Thomas Street at about 1:44 p.m. for a 3-week-old baby who was unresponsive and not breathing. The infant was pronounced dead at 1:50 p.m., and detectives opened an investigation at the scene. Months later, on March 16, 2026, the Broward County Medical Examiner’s Office ruled the baby’s cause of death was suffocation and the manner of death was homicide.
Arrest affidavits filed in Broward County court lay out what detectives say happened inside the home and what both parents told police. According to those records, the infant had been left in a private room inside the residence and was later found unresponsive in a playpen. Investigators wrote that both parents gave statements after the child’s death that detectives later determined were false or inconsistent with the physical evidence and medical findings.
Detectives allege Garcia restrained the baby by tightly wrapping him in a blanket, securing a pacifier in his mouth, strapping him into a car seat, then placing him inside a bathtub behind a closed bathroom door while loud music played. Investigators wrote that she left the child there for hours, went back to sleep, and did not seek medical help when she later found him unresponsive. Instead, according to the affidavits, detectives believe she and Watts participated in staging the scene and misleading police about how the child died.
The affidavits also say detectives found signs of cleanup and concealment inside the room and bathroom, including items described as disposable wipes, bleach, cleaning materials and baby bottles. Investigators wrote that surveillance video from a neighbor’s Ring camera showed Garcia carrying a white garbage bag to a trash bin shortly before the 911 call. Watts later told investigators he had disposed of several baby bottles and other items from inside the home.
Court records say Watts was the child’s father and one of the primary caregivers. Detectives wrote that when he returned to the home that afternoon, he found the baby unresponsive and noticed foam around the child’s mouth. Investigators say he questioned Garcia, then joined in actions that concealed evidence and delayed a truthful account of what happened. Both affidavits allege the pair tried to present the death as if the baby had died in his sleep in the playpen.
The charges now move the case into Broward County’s criminal court system, where prosecutors will have to prove the allegations. The arrest warrants were signed March 30 by Circuit Judge Tim Bailey, and both defendants were taken into custody April 8. As of the police announcement, both remained in Broward County Jail.
For residents following the case, the central facts are now clear: the infant’s death was investigated for months, the medical examiner ruled it a homicide, and Hollywood police say that investigation led to charges against both parents. The criminal case will determine what happens next.
Find detailed Boca Raton arrest information, including charges, bond amounts, and booking status updates.
