HARRISON COUNTY, Texas (KTAL/KMSS) – The Harrison County Sheriff’s Office announced the arrest of a father suspected of causing fatal injury to his infant child.

According to a news release from the HCSO, they received a report of a three-month-old child brought to CHRISTUS Good Shepherd Medical Center Marshall from Karnack in a personal vehicle on Tuesday, October 9. The female infant was later flown to Children’s Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

On Wednesday, October 10, hospital officials declared the infant brain dead and an autopsy was conducted on October 11 which revealed that the child’s injuries were consistent with child abuse.

The investigation by HCSO led to the arrest of 17-year-old Daniel Villarel, the child’s father. He was arrested for injury to a child with serious bodily injury and brought to the Harrison County Jail.

Harrison County Sheriff B.J. Fletcher thanked the investigators for their work on these “most brutal and mentally trying cases.”