{"id":360944,"date":"2026-08-02T20:01:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:01:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360944\/"},"modified":"2026-08-02T20:01:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-02T20:01:20","slug":"florida-dad-charged-with-murder-for-turning-leaf-blower-on-infant-son-in-fatal-prank","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/360944\/","title":{"rendered":"Florida dad charged with murder for turning leaf blower on infant son in fatal prank"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Evening<\/p>\n

The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the USYour briefing on the latest headlines from across the US<\/p>\n

\"Evening<\/p>\n

A Florida<\/a> father has been indicted on a murder charge<\/a> after authorities said he used a leaf blower<\/a> on his infant son in what turned out to be a fatal prank.<\/p>\n

James Westervelt III, 38, of Marion County, was indicted on first-degree felony murder, according to records<\/a> filed by prosecutors on July 30. The filing noted that additional charges were pending.<\/p>\n

Deputies responded to a home in August 2024 for a report of an unresponsive 6-month-old infant, WESH 2<\/a> reported. The child \u2014 Westervelt\u2019s son \u2014 was transported to a hospital and put on life support, but he died a few days later.<\/p>\n

The boy\u2019s death was determined to have been caused by shaken baby syndrome.<\/p>\n

Westervelt allegedly told investigators that he used a leaf blower on his young child because \u201che thought it was funny,\u201d WCJB<\/a> reported. <\/p>\n

\"JamesJames Westervelt, a 38-year-old Florida man, was indicted on a murder charge in connection with the death of his infant son, whom officials say he had used a leaf blower on as a prank (Marion County Sheriff’s Office)<\/p>\n

Deputies also reportedly found video showing Westervelt using the yard tool on the infant\u2019s face when the child was even younger, according to the outlet.<\/p>\n

The Independent has contacted prosecutors, an attorney representing Westervelt and the Marion County Sheriff\u2019s Office for comment.<\/p>\n

Marion County is located in North Central Florida and encompasses the city of Ocala.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The latest headlines from our reporters across the US sent straight to your inbox each weekdayYour briefing on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":360945,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29],"class_list":["post-360944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=360944"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/360944\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/360945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=360944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=360944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=360944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}