REDDING — On March 13th just after 11 AM, paramedics arrived at a home on C Street to begin life-saving efforts on a baby girl who was reportedly found not breathing.
Circumstances seemed to indicate something amiss and police were called to the scene. While officers were en route, the baby was taken to a local hospital. As they arrived at the home, the officers received word that she had died. Redding PD investigators were called to take over the scene.
Preliminary investigation indicated that the 4-month-old girl and her 2-year-old brother had been under the care of their father — Carl Stivason (31) of Redding — who had passed out in his recliner after ingesting high amounts of controlled substances. He’d apparently been holding the girl in his lap and the girl had fallen facedown into the recliner and become stuck.
A short while later, Stivason’s wife came home to check on her children after several failed attempts to reach her husband by phone. That was when she discovered her daughter unconscious and her son free to roam about the home, possibly coming into contact with controlled substances Stivason had left sitting out.
Stivason was arrested for murder and child abuse and booked into the Shasta County Jail. The investigation is ongoing.
