Lufkin Man Charged in Death of Toddler

ANGELINA COUNTY — The Angelina County Sheriff’s Office has made an arrest in what an investigator called the worst child abuse death he has seen. Kerry Jock Woodard, 28, is charged with capital murder in connection with the December 2010 beating death of his then-girlfriend’s 3-year-old son.

After having been in Woodard’s care while the mother was at work last December, the boy was rushed to a local hospital with serious injuries. He was then airlifted to Texas Children’s Hospital in Houston, where he later died. Although investigators were called to Memorial Medical Center-Lufkin the night the boy was brought in, it took months of investigation to implicate Woodard.

An autopsy report released in October showed the boy suffered more than 100 contusions all over his body, a lacerated liver, and subdural hematomas often seen in shaken baby cases. Cooper said the boy’s death is the worst case of child abuse he’s seen in his career.

Investigators took Woodard, a registered sex offender, into custody Wednesday evening. If convicted, Woodard faces the death penalty. He remained in the Angelina County Jail Thursday morning. Bond had not been set.