Man charged in son's beating death

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JANELLE STECKLEIN

Authorities charged a Donley County man with capital murder in the death of his son, who died Wednesday, a few weeks after Child Protective Services placed the child in his father's care.

Donley County Sheriff Butch Blackburn said authorities found 4-year-old Chance Mark Jones unresponsive with cuts and bruises on his body about 9:40 a.m. Tuesday after the boy's father, Robert Monroe Babcock, 38, called 911 to report his son was injured. No one else lived at Babcock's home at 12750 County Road W. southeast of Clarendon, Blackburn said.

"It appeared the boy had had blunt force trauma to the head and also had bruising on his torso," he said.

Blackburn said emergency officials flew Chance by LifeStar helicopter to Northwest Texas Hospital in Amarillo, where he died. An autopsy has been ordered for today in Lubbock.