Louisville, Ky. (WHAS11) - Robert Long Jr. has now been charged with one count of murder based upon the autopsy results which show that the infant, Lavion Gamble, died as a result of homicide.
Police say the infant's death began as a custody situation and that after a number of hours it developed into a missing persons case but an Amber Alert wasn't sought until the moments before the baby's body was discovered.
Police and family members of the dead baby didn't know until Wednesday afternoon that Long had a criminal past.
What detectives learned was that Robert Long had gone to prison in 1992 after being convicted of killing another infant child the year before.
They also learned that another girlfriend of Long’s obtained a domestic violence order against him in 2008, the year after he was released from prison.
Wednesday afternoon dozens of police descended on a Louisville apartment complex looking for the man already convicted of murdering one child and suspected in the disappearance of another baby.
Early Tuesday morning, 7-and-a-half week old Lavion Gamble’s mother returned home from work and realized the infant was missing and reported it to police.
The circumstances surrounding the case did not meet the criteria for an Amber Alert until detectives found out about Long’s past.
Police say earlier action wouldn't have saved the infant, since by Long's own account, the baby had died Monday night.
Erricka Coleman, who has been dating Long, says that his black SUV sat parked at her home for more than 24 hours before police found the baby in the backseat.
Police reports say that Long had a knife in his hand when police got in the house. Police had their guns drawn and a taser and that's when, according to reports, Long dropped the knife and was arrested.
Long was arraigned Thursday morning on charges of abuse of a corpse, tampering with physical evidence and menacing.
Robert Long Jr. was charged with one count of murder Thursday afternoon based upon the autopsy results which show that the infant died as a result of homicide.
Long was originally placed under a $20,000 bond but when he is arraigned on the murder charge, bond is expected to be drastically raised or denied.
