Red Wing man admits killing infant son

A 28-year-old Red Wing man has admitted that he killed his infant son, who suffered substantial physical abuse in his short life.

Hunter Matthew McCutchen agreed Monday in Goodhue County District Court to plead guilty to second-degree murder in connection with the boy’s death on May 25, 2023.

The plea deal calls for first-degree murder and other lesser charges to be dropped and for McCutchen to receive a 40-year term. With credit for time in jail since his arrest, he is expected to serve about 26 years in prison and the balance on supervised release.

McCutchen’s criminal history includes two convictions for domestic assault and one for violating a court’s no-contact order.

According to the criminal complaint:

Red Wing police and fire personnel were called to a home in the 500 block of Maple Street shortly after noon on May 23, 2023, after Ozzy McCutchen’s mother, Aonica Lex, called 911 and said her baby was not breathing. The child was taken by emergency responders to St. Marys Hospital in Rochester.

McCutchen told a police officer he was feeding the boy on the couch, stepped away briefly and returned to find Ozzy unresponsive.

While the boy was at the hospital, Lex told a doctor that she arrived home after taking her 4-year-old daughter to and from preschool to find her boyfriend of the past year and a half holding their “limp and pale” son.

An X-ray of the baby’s chest revealed broken ribs and a broken collarbone in various stages of healing. The injuries are “highly suggestive of nonaccidental trauma,” the charges noted. Medical personnel also detected bleeding on the child’s brain and loss of brain function.

Lex shared with a doctor photos she took in recent weeks of injuries to her baby: broken blood vessels on the eye and facial bruises and scratches. She also reported having seen bruises on the boy’s legs, back, chest and face since he was about 2 weeks old.

Based on the injuries, the doctor concluded that the boy was a victim of excessive shaking.

Lex told police that McCutchen smokes marijuana daily, drinks alcohol frequently and has been violent to her. One incident led to a conviction in 2022 for domestic assault.

The day after the child was hospitalized, Lex called police to say McCutchen admitted hurting the baby.