The boyfriend of a Forsyth County woman whose 3-year-old son was found dead earlier this week has now been charged with murder in connection with the child’s death, authorities said Friday.
Authorities initially charged Christopher E. Truett, 25, of Butts County, with cruelty to children and reckless conduct. Channel 2 Action News reported Friday that those charges had been upgraded to felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault.
Truett found Wyatt Pruitt unresponsive Tuesday, according to a news release from the Forsyth County Sheriff’s Office. He initially called 911 when the boy’s mother walked in the house, Doug Rainwater, sheriff’s department spokesman, told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Dawn Schutts, the boy’s mother, “snatched the phone from him and started talking to the 911 operator,” he said. “The operator began walking her through CPR.”
About 11 a.m., deputies were called to the home in the 3600 block of Roseman Landing, which is in the Bridgetowne subdivision. Authorities took the boy to Northside Hospital-Forsyth, where he was pronounced dead about 11:45 a.m., Rainwater said in the release.
Just before 1:45 p.m., deputies located Truett near the intersection of Ga. 369 and Ga. 400 and took him into custody. Deputies used dogs to track the man into the woods behind the neighborhood.
The case remains under investigation. Part of the investigation will focus on how long the child might have been in distress before his mother got home, Rainwater said.
Wyatt was one of two toddlers who died in metro Atlanta this week. Meriel Bemis, 21, faces one count of felony murder in connection with the Sunday night death of her 3-year-old daughter, DeKalb County police Capt. Steven Fore said.
On Tuesday, Bemis waived her first court appearance. Police said she confessed to suffocating her child. Another hearing has been scheduled for March 20.
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