A Tennessee father has been charged with murder, neglect and child abuse in the blunt force trauma death of his 2-week-old daughter.

Jonathon Lemons, 25, was taken into custody at a Stanford, Kentucky, hospital where he was awaiting the birth of another child, Metro Nashville Police announced Wednesday.
Johnathon Lemons is accused of causing the death of his infant child, Harmony Lemons, in January 2020. The Nashville medical examiner determined Harmony died from a severe brain injury.

Harmony was in Johnathon Lemons’ care the night she began showing symptoms of trauma, police said. He initially told detectives he did not cause the injury and that the child was not involved in any accidents, but later requested a second interview during which he claimed he tripped and dropped Harmony onto a carpeted floor, investigators alleged.

Officials said Johnathon Lemons was on parole for an attempted first-degree murder conviction in Knox County on Wednesday when detectives learned he had moved to Macon County. He was later tracked to the Kentucky hospital where law enforcement took him into custody as a fugitive of Tennessee.

He was expected to be extradited to Nashville.

It was not immediately clear whether Johnathon Lemons had an attorney who could comment for him.