A 23-year-old Fridley man is now charged with one count of 2nd-degree murder after the death of his 5-month-old son earlier this year.
According to court documents, on March 1 around 7:30 p.m., the Anoka County Sheriff’s Office received a report of an unresponsive five‐month‐old child. Initial reports indicated that Aaron Michael Orlando Rathke and the child’s mother had driven their son to the Fridley Police Department after he had stopped breathing at their home earlier that evening.
Upon arrival at the Fridley Police Department, the boy, Kaiden Michael Rathke, was not breathing and did not have a pulse. Officers began CPR at the scene. Kaiden was transported to Children’s Hospital via ambulance and pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital at 8:03 p.m.
Rathke told law enforcement that the mother was home alone with Kaiden at 11:00 a.m. and that the child had stopped breathing. According to Rathke, Kaiden’s mother was able to get him to breathe again by pushing on his chest in a manner consistent with infant chest compressions. When Rathke got home from work that evening, he took Kaiden into their shared bedroom at 6:50 p.m. and said he was changing his diaper when Kaiden vomited and stopped breathing. Rathke said he pushed on the child’s chest but was unsuccessful in his attempts to get Kaiden to breathe. They decided to drive Kaiden to the Fridley Police Department.
