All along, a Columbia couple insisted they knew nothing about what killed their infant son.

Neither Andrew Ray Moyer Sr. nor Brianna Michael was talking, police said.

That was until both were handcuffed and taken into custody Wednesday night, charged with homicide and related offenses.

In a police interview after the arrests, Michael told detectives that Moyer recently struck the 6-week-old boy with a knee to the face, investigators said Thursday.

Police believe that might have been the fatal blow after more than a week of torture and abuse.

"He may have been the one more responsible for the fatal injuries," Lancaster County District Attorney Craig Stedman said Thursday morning. "Regardless, both parents had a duty of care, and they betrayed that duty to the fullest extent."

For that reason, Stedman said, both parents are charged with the boy's death.

Stedman said there was a "pattern of abuse" that included injuries to the boy's head, scrotum, buttocks and ribs.

Both parents knew about the abuse, according to police, so both are being held responsible.

"It doesn't matter who is doing it," Stedman said. "They were inseparable. They would have known exactly what happened to this child."

Stedman called it one of the most horrific cases he's ever seen.

"The word shocking understates what we have here," he said. "I hope I never have to see a case like this again."

Moyer, 24, and Michael, 23, are at Lancaster County Prison without bail.

They were arrested about 8 p.m. at Moyer's parents' house in Stevens, officials said.

Court documents indicate this isn't Moyer's first brush with the law, nor is it his first time in prison.

He was on probation when baby Andrew died Oct. 18, court records show.

In 2009, Moyer was sentenced to 6 to 23 months in prison and probation for a domestic incident in East Hempfield Township. In that incident, Moyer threatened a group of people with a handgun, then intentionally crashed his car into another vehicle.

A man was pinned underneath one of the cars and sustained a broken leg, an arrest affidavit shows.

Moyer apparently was enraged that his girlfriend (not Michael) had kicked him, the affidavit indicates.

"I'll shoot all you (expletives)," he told the group, which included the girlfriend, the affidavit shows.

Moyer also has been arrested for receiving stolen property, theft by deception, disorderly conduct and writing bad checks, according to court records.

Also revealed Thursday was that Moyer has another child, a 3-year-old daughter, with a Berks County woman. According to officials, however, Moyer has no contact with that child.

On Oct. 18, emergency-responders arrived at 146 Locust St., Apt. D, in Columbia and found baby Andrew dead inside a playpen.

Police allege the parents ignored obvious signs that the boy needed medical treatment. At 1 a.m. that morning, an affidavit shows, a large amount of blood was wiped from the child's face.

"There's no question these signs would be obvious to anyone over the age of 3," Stedman said.

According to the affidavit, however, the couple simply went back to bed.

"They were clearly more concerned about getting a good night's sleep than the life of their helpless baby," Stedman said.

An autopsy determined that Moyer's kneeing of the child in the face would have been one — possibly the last — of the devastating blows inflicted on the child.

"It was not one thing," Stedman said. "The fatal blows came from multiple massive blows to the head."

Investigators also found burns on the child, along with broken ribs and internal injuries.

First Assistant District Attorney Christopher P. Larsen will prosecute Moyer and Michael. Officials said they haven't ruled out pursuing the death penalty.

"We're all human beings, so of course we're all affected by this," Larsen said Thursday. "You can't get any more innocent than an infant child."

bhambright@lnpnews.com

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