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The preliminary hearing for the man charged with first-degree murder for killing his girlfriend’s 18-month-old child in July will continue next week with a fourth witness taking the stand.

Andy Carter, 26, appeared before Weld Judge Timothy Kerns for a preliminary hearing Monday afternoon with his defense attorneys Paul Warren and Megan Bishop.

In August, the Weld District Attorney’s Office filed formal charges against Carter for first-degree murder and revoked his $1 million bond. Greeley police had arrested Carter the month before on suspicion of child abuse resulting in the death of his girlfriend’s daughter.

This case dates back to July 2 when the Weld County Department of Human Services requested police involvement for a possible child abuse case. Detectives arrived at the Children’s Hospital in Aurora, where an 18-month-old was suffering from severe brain bleeding after being flown to the hospital from North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley.

Life-saving measures at both hospitals were unsuccessful, and the child was pronounced dead at 2:27 p.m.

Further investigation revealed her injuries occurred in the 2400 block of Ash Avenue while under the sole care of Carter, her mother’s boyfriend. He was not the father of the child.

Carter told investigators he took the baby to the hospital and asked for the staff’s help to get her into an emergency room. The other family members, including her mother, were contacted after the incident.

Weld County Deputy District Attorneys Arynn Clark and Yvette Guthrie called three Greeley police witnesses to the stand: Detective Leslie Schmidt, Detective John Kinne and officer Edward Kubala. All three discussed Carter having a history of violence, as well as a background in MMA fighting, and accounts from hospital staff of his odd behavior.

On executing a search warrant of Carter’s girlfriend’s home, police found vomit on the living room floor near a sofa, according to Kubela, who helped execute the search. Police found a can of bug spray on the sofa.

Carter and his girlfriend indicated they utilized the spray later in the day due to ants surrounding the vomit.

From interviews with Carter and his girlfriend and video surveillance, detectives created a timeframe of the morning of the child’s death, according to Kinne.

The day prior to the incident, the child’s day care called her mother to inform her the child was sick with a fever and had to stay home the next day. She asked Carter, her boyfriend and father to the baby she was pregnant with, to watch her daughter while she went to class.

The mother left for class about 8:15 a.m., later reporting her child seemed fine and normal compared to the day before. By 8:40 a.m., Carter called his girlfriend and told her to go to the hospital.

Kinne’s testimony included details of Carter’s explanation to law enforcement. Carter said the two were sitting on the couch together after the mom left, and he left the child sitting alone on the couch to go use the restroom.

Upon his return, Carter found the child lying face down in her own vomit, he told investigators. He tried to clean the vomit off of her and shook the baby several times to clear her airways.

He then called his girlfriend to tell her to go to the hospital. He got dressed and took the child to the hospital, even holding her in his arms as he drove, he told law enforcement.

Video surveillance showed Carter arrive at the hospital at 8:46 a.m., Schmidt recalled.

Carter said the child sneezed during the drive and blood came out of her nose, according to law enforcement.

Throughout his account of what occurred, Carter seemed unsure of what exactly happened to the baby, police said. He stated she may have fallen off the couch, hit her head on the door as he carried her out of the home or received head trauma from him shaking her.

Most of the hospital staff involved in treating the child found Carter’s behavior suspicious, according to prosecutors.

Multiple reports from staff members consistently indicated the child’s mother sobbed, almost passed out, could barely breathe and seemed distraught and visibly emotional, while Carter seemed calm, energetic, stoic and emotionless. One account defined him as not showing empathy or comforting his girlfriend.

Staff also found his explanation of the child’s injuries odd, especially since he never called 911, Schmidt said. Staff noticed Carter seemed more focused on getting the vomit removed from his shorts and shirtless back than the child’s condition.

The defense said descriptions of Carter varied and sometimes contradicted each other, including a report that Carter was calm conflicting with a report he was energetic.

At least three staff members said they found Carter’s action of shaking an unresponsive and injured child strange due to his claims of being a trained EMT, Schmidt testified. Two reported expecting the case to be non-accidental trauma despite hearing Carter’s story of what happened.

Bishop further pressed Schmidt to confirm staff accounts that Carter shouted, “Save my baby!” on several occasions and showed some sort of support to his girlfriend at the hospital.

When investigators arrived to interview the family, the defense argued detectives never saw the girlfriend acting hostile or lashing out at Carter following the death of her child. Schmidt even wrote in her report Carter was providing tissues for his partner and rubbing her back.

However, she also indicated she found that his actions of taking out the tissues, flattening them out on his leg and then handing them to his girlfriend to be odd.

The night before the child’s death, both Carter and his girlfriend reported having an argument. She said he came home after midnight being obnoxious, loud and trying to get her to have sex with him.

This isn’t the first time there have been reports of arguing between the couple, detectives learned during their investigation. Text messages recovered by Schmidt appeared to show Carter had a history of domestic violence against his girlfriend.

Messages Carter had sent to the child’s mother include:

Text messages from the child’s mother to Carter:

Text conversations between the two:

Carter: ” “Lol you can die ig (I guess).”

Child’s mother: “At this point being with you, I don’t plan on living very long.”

Carter: “The truth or imma hurt you.”

The child’s mother reported to authorities Carter became violent with her throughout their relationship, even taking to sleeping in her car because of the domestic violence, according to Schmidt.

After his arrest, Carter stated in a jail call to his sister that the child’s mother needs to die, prosecutors said. He said in the call, “If there isn’t some offer in the case, then (the mom) is going to end up in a body bag.”

Along with accusations of Carter strangling, choking and hitting his partner in the past, she indicated suspicions he might have hurt her children.

Carter has a background in professional MMA fighting and specifically came to Greeley to train, according to detectives. His text messages implied he had violent tendencies, and, prosecutors further argued, his activity showcased his admissions and guilt.

For example, Carter’s search history revealed he spent July 2-7 researching brain aneurysms, swelling and bleeding, according to Schmidt.

Before the release of the child’s autopsy, Carter called the funeral home to ask questions in regards to blunt force trauma. He specifically asked if the autopsy would reveal if that type of trauma occurred, Kinne said.

Furthermore, Carter’s ex-wife told investigators he claimed to not like the baby because she was a “crybaby like her mother.”

In phone calls to the child’s mother after his arrest, he reportedly said there would have to be proof he did something to the child within 23 minutes. He further showed admissions by stating, “Whatever it was, was an accident,” Schmidt testified.

The defense spent the majority of Schmidt’s cross-examination bringing another suspect to the table: the child’s mother.

The night before the baby’s death, her mother found bruises on her cheek and leg. Both Carter and the mother said the bruises came from the child turning her head and hitting it on a wall when called by the mother. Carter confirmed he was in the room during this occurrence, while detectives interviewed him the day of the baby’s death.

Records showed prior to July 2, the child had “bouts of sickness” according to Kinne. He confirmed the child would often pull out her hair and one of her fingernails fell off. The child also began experiencing night terrors the months before her death, according to Schmidt.

A day care worker reported her fingernails were rotting, and workers confronted her mom about the bruises on her body. At one point, Bishop highlighted that the Department of Human Services checked up on the child at day care before her death.

The mother often yelled at her children and had multiple men over all the time, according to neighbors and day care workers accounts from Schmidt’s initial investigation.

Day care workers reported the child had a change in behavior within the weeks leading up to her death, including aggression with other children, which was considered unusual for the little girl.

Additionally, a neighbor made a social media post about the child’s mother that Schmidt found online, which stated she would leave her 18-month-old at the apartment complex playground by herself.

Schmidt will remain on the stand for continued cross-examination before the fourth and final witness testifies at the preliminary hearing scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Feb. 15.

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