A 22-year-old Creston, British Columbia, man is in custody in the Boundary County Jail on $250,000 bond after being charged with first degree murder May 9 for the death of his six week old daughter December 31, 2023, from injuries allegedly sustained early Christmas morning .
According to court documents, Joseph Chester Munroe Albert and girlfriend Angela Bean woke up at about 7 a.m. December 25 at a residence on Cow Creek Road and found their daughter, Harlynn, unresponsive. They took the child to Boundary Community Hospital, and she was flown a short time later to Sacred Heart Medical Center, Spokane, after being diagnosed with head trauma.
Both parents were interviewed by Spokane police. Initially telling detectives he’d gone gone to bed with Angela and Harlynn at about 11 p.m. and didn’t get until 7 a.m., Albert changed his story about 40 minutes into the interview and said he’d awakened to Harlynn’s crying at about 12:15 a.m.
Before the interview’s end he told investigators he had bobbed her for about ten minutes until she quieted and he put her back to bed, and then he wrote an apology letter to Angela, admitting he bounced Harlynn too many times, hard, and now she was hurt.
In Boundary County, sheriff’s detective Caleb Watts interviewed family members who, along with Joseph and Angela, reported that Harlynn had been fine when put to bed Christmas Eve.
On May 6 Watts received the autopsy report, in which Spokane forensic pathologist Dr. Sean Ricciardo determined the child’s death a homicide.
In court filings, Boundary County Prosecutor Andrakay Pluid indicated she will not seek the death penalty. His preliminary hearing, originally set for today, was rescheduled until 1:30 p.m. Friday, June 14.