Logan man pleads guilty to smothering baby girl to death in 2018

Booking photo for Kyle J. Gooch (Courtesy: Cache County Jail).

LOGAN — A 33-year-old Logan man has confessed to smothering a baby girl to death four years ago. Kyle T. Gooch waived his right to a fair trial and accepted a plea deal that could send him to prison for life.

Gooch participated in pretrial conference Monday morning in 1st District Court. He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of child abuse reckless homicide, a first-degree felony.

Defense attorney Rudy Bautista said, in exchange for Gooch’s guilty plea, prosecutors had agreed to drop five other charges in three unrelated cases.

On Dec. 15, 2019, Logan City police were called to an apartment, on report of a deceased infant, found in her crib. Investigators found several signs of trauma on the child’s body. The baby had bruising on her head, ears, and several bright red abrasions on her face. It was estimated that the child had died the night before.

Police interviewed Gooch and the baby’s mother. They learned that the couple’s three children, including the victim, had been left in the care of the defendant on the night of December 14. The mother had left briefly to collect some Christmas gifts, leaving the baby screaming hysterically.

Gooch told police he had swaddled the girl in a large blue blanket, claiming it helped calm her down. He then placed her into the crib, face-down, for the night.

An autopsy report found the victim had thirteen different blunt force injuries to the head. A physician later concluded that the wounds were not accidental and were consistent with inflicted pressure as might occur with smothering. It also appeared the facial abrasions could have been caused by rubbing the baby’s face back and forth on the mattress sheet while being smothered.

Gooch was booked into the Cache County Jail after being arrested July 31, 2019. He has remained in jail without bail while lawyers negotiated the case.

During Monday’s hearing, Gooch spoke briefly, telling the court he was “guilty.” He was ordered to undergo a presentence report about his criminal history, compiled by probation agents, in preparation for sentencing May 2.


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4 Comments

  • Kramer April 4, 2023 at 1:03 pm Reply

    Another lame plea deal.
    Let him rot. Slowly and painfully

  • LWOP...DeathIsTooGoodForHim April 4, 2023 at 9:31 pm Reply

    To beat and then smother a helpless baby to death is evil incarnate; to do this to your own daughter is inexplicable….wow. I hope this guy gets life in prison without the possibility of parole. Death is too good for him.

  • Sandy Oliver April 5, 2023 at 8:02 am Reply

    The mother briefly left a hysterically screaming infant with this guy, and somehow didn’t notice the baby was dead until the next morning? She didn’t check on the baby when she got back? She didn’t notice the baby did wake up in the night to be fed or changed? I don’t buy that for a minute.

  • T May 18, 2023 at 7:26 am Reply

    The baby was my second cousin once removed. I was at her funeral when we buried her on her first birthday. This monster took any chance of life away from her. She’d be around 4 or 5 this year.
    I’m not 100% sure that baby’s mom was involved in the murder, from an outsider looking in it might seem that way. But I’ve known baby’s mom since I was a baby. I saw how much she loved both of her kids. It just doesn’t sound like she could have been involved. Her first baby, the victim’s brother, was more of a screaming baby than the victim, and he’s still alive.
    I hope that this monster will rot in jail. I hope that his cell mates beat him on a regular basis. That is the only thing a child murder deservers.

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