Grantsville father facing murder charge after 1-year-old child dies

GRANTSVILLE, Utah — A 44-year-old man has been charged with aggravated murder after his 1-year-old son died, according to court documents.

Grantsville police originally arrested Aaron Visser on Sunday and booked him into jail for investigation of aggravated child abuse.

Officers responded to Visser’s home after he called 911 Friday evening and reported his son was not breathing.

First responders performed life-saving measures and airlifted the boy to Primary’s Children’s Hospital.

Grantsville father booked for child abuse of 1-year-old, not expected to survive

According to court documents, officers noticed the boy had “bruising on the right side of his forehead” and “multiple small bruises across his forehead with another large bruise on the left side of the boy’s forehead.”

The boy also had discolored eyes with small abrasions on his eyelids and eyebrows, multiple small scrapes on his chin, more bruises on his feet and abrasions in the “form of a human bite mark.”

While at the hospital, nursing staff told police the boy had multiple internal injuries such as a “brain bleed, a fractured rib which was in the stages of healing, a freshly fractured rib, and a bruise on one of the lungs.”

They also found another bite mark on his right hand.

Police interviewed three of the boy’s siblings, and they accused Visser of being abusive toward them and the boy.

Doctors said the boy was placed on life support on Friday, and he died Tuesday afternoon.

Grantsville police originally booked Visser into the Tooele County Jail on charges of aggravated child abuse. On Thursday, they said the Tooele County Attorney’s Office had amended Visser’s charge from aggravated child abuse to aggravated murder, a first-degree felony.