Noah Humphus, 23, admitted to police that he repeatedly shook his crying infant daughter and demonstrated how he swung her by the legs, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The Jefferson City, Missouri, father estimated he had abused the 4-month-old girl between 10 and 20 times, officers wrote in court documents. He was arrested last Wednesday after the baby was hospitalized with injuries doctors said were consistent with child abuse, and he is now being held without bond at the Cole County Jail.
Doctors who examined the infant found fractured ribs, a broken femur, bruising to her face and torso, and signs that she had been shaken, according to the affidavit obtained by Law & Crime. The injuries were in various stages of healing, indicating the abuse had occurred over an extended period.
The infant’s mother told Jefferson City Police Department officers that Humphus allegedly shook their daughter at least twice daily at their home. She also reported that he defended the practice to her, claiming it was a normal part of child-rearing.
“That is how to ‘toughen’ children,” Humphus allegedly told his partner, according to the affidavit.
“It is normal ‘to be rougher’ with children,” he allegedly added.
During a police interview, Humphus admitted to shaking his baby on multiple occasions when she was crying and he was frustrated, according to the affidavit. He then used a doll to demonstrate how he would hold the child upside down and swing her by her legs, a motion officers believe likely caused the broken femur.
Humphus was charged with child abuse with physical injury and child endangerment. He is due to appear in court on Wednesday.
The case drew attention after local outlets including KOMU 8 and KATU reported on the affidavit’s disturbing details. The severity and nature of the injuries prompted immediate medical intervention when the child was brought to the hospital last Wednesday.
Child abuse cases involving infants often present complex diagnostic challenges, as victims cannot communicate what occurred. Medical professionals in this case identified patterns of injury that pointed to repeated violent handling rather than accidental harm.
The mother’s cooperation with investigators provided crucial context for understanding the duration and claimed rationale behind the abuse. Her statements to police established that Humphus allegedly presented the shaking and swinging as intentional parenting methods rather than momentary loss of control.
Humphus’s use of a doll to reenact the abuse during his police interview gave investigators direct evidence of his methods. The demonstration showed how he inverted the infant and swung her by her lower extremities, a practice medical experts would recognize as carrying high risk of skeletal and neurological damage.
He is due to appear in court on Wednesday.