USS Fitzgerald sailor pleaded guilty to murder for killing his infant daughter

Yokosuka sailor pleads guilty to murdering infant daughter
By ERIK SLAVIN
Stars and Stripes
Published: February 16, 2012

YOKOSUKA NAVAL BASE, Japan — A USS Fitzgerald sailor pleaded guilty to murder for killing his infant daughter with “karate chop-like blows,” and was sentenced Thursday to 15 years in prison.

The stress of providing for his family, his job and other factors led Seaman Lequae Caldwell, 23, to take out his anger on his crying daughter, 5-month-old Aviana, on Jan. 5, 2011, the sailor said while reading an unsworn statement at his Yokosuka court-martial Thursday.

Caldwell struck “the chest (her chest) with his hand using two karate chop-like blows,” according to court documents read by the judge. The blows ruptured his daughter’s heart, and she likely died within minutes after experiencing “air hunger,” according to medical testimony.

Caldwell said he initially denied striking his child to spare the feelings of his wife, Seaman Camellia Ngirmang, who served with him aboard the Fitzgerald.

“I lied because I couldn’t give my wife a dead child and a murdering husband at the same time,” Caldwell said.
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