DALLAS - A Highland Park father was found dead inside a Dallas hotel room just days after his four-month-old son died after he was taken to a hospital with suspicious injuries.
Harrison House Rothermel was brought Sunday to Children's Medical Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead. As is routine, the staff at Children's Medical contacted police to notify them of suspicious injuries they saw on the infant, including bruises and a broken rib. Authorities said the infant's parents were initially cooperative.
However, just three days later, Louis Frederick Rothermel III, the 44-year-old father of the infant, was reported missing, and was later found dead inside a Dallas hotel room. His death was ruled a suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, a police report stated.
A CPS caseworker testified at a custody hearing Thursday afternoon that the infant had a skull fracture two months ago. The worker also testified that the boy's mother went out of town Saturday and it was the father who took the infant to the hospital Sunday afternoon.
Judge William Mazure ordered the couple's 4-year-old son to be released from DPS custody and returned to his mother.
