15 years for Mankato man who fatally beat his baby girl, blamed cat

A southern Minnesota man has received a 15-year prison term for causing the death of his baby girl and then trying to blame her severe injuries on one of the family's cats.

Kristopher D.A. Henderson, 41, of Mankato, was sentenced Tuesday in Blue Earth County after pleading guilty to second-degree unintentional murder in connection with the infant's death on Nov. 3, 2021.

With credit for time in jail since his arrest, Henderson is expected to serve the first 8½ years of his term in prison and the balance on supervised release.

According to the criminal complaint:

Henderson and Shelby Goodrich brought their 2-month-old daughter, Adaline, to a Mankato hospital on Sept. 23, 2021. Health care personnel determined that the baby had bleeding on the brain. They also saw bruises on her face, and broken legs and ribs. Adaline was soon transferred to a hospital in Rochester for further treatment.

The parents explained to investigators that "the injuries could have been caused by one of their cats," the complaint continued. However, a doctor wrote in his report that "the 20lb cat that the father states was around the infant is not the cause of these injuries."

Goodrich told a police detective that she was at work on Sept. 23, 2021, when Henderson messaged her saying he saw the cat on Adaline. Goodrich arrived home and saw her daughter's eyes were bulging; she was then taken to the emergency room.

The detective told Henderson that doctors dismissed his claim of the cat causing Adaline's injuries. "I'm not that damn person, man," the complaint quoted him as saying in response. He went on to deny harming the girl but acknowledged possibly being a little rough while changing Adaline's diaper.

In a second interview with the detective, Goodrich said Henderson would become frustrated if Adaline did not eat right away, and "he was forceful a couple of times putting the bottle in [her] mouth."

About a week later, after learning that Adaline would not recover, Henderson told investigators that he cradled Adaline face down in his arms and struck her back harder than usual for an estimated five minutes while trying to calm her down. He admitted that the blows were hard enough to break Adaline's ribs.