Tyree Marche'll Bowie is charged with criminal homicide and endangering the welfare of children in the death of Dante Mullinix. He is scheduled to have a preliminary arraignment by video Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
An autopsy performed on Mullinix indicated the child had died of traumatic brain injury, accompanied by strangulation and suffocation, according to a criminal complaint affidavit filed by York City Police.
Police say staff at York Hospital contacted the police department at 10:30 p.m. on Sept. 6 to report that a man, later identified as Bowie, had dropped off an unresponsive child at the hospital and fled. The child was transported to Hershey Medical Center, where he later died.
Bowie was interviewed by police on Sept. 7, and allegedly admitted he was the only one caring for the boy when he stopped breathing. Bowie told police he fed Mullinix animal crackers in the area of the 700 block of N. George Street, and noticed the child was not breathing as he approached the area of South George and East Maple Street. He then rushed the boy to the hospital, he told police.
According to the criminal complaint, Bowie told police he dropped the child's mother off at the hospital at 8:30 p.m. on Sept. 6, and no other adults who could have inflicted any injuries on the child were present between then and the time he noticed the boy had stopped breathing.
Police obtained a search warrant for Bowie's vehicle and observed there were no animal crackers found in any area of the car.
Police also viewed video surveillance footage taken from a Rutter's store on the 2100 block of Susquehanna Trail, and observed that the child was with Bowie and appeared to be healthy and able to walk on his own.
In a subsequent interview with police, Bowie said he went to the 100 block of Lexton Drive in York after visiting the Rutter's store, and that he gave the child animal crackers in the area of Lexton Estates.
The victim stopped breathing a short time later, Bowie told police.
