Bob CollinsNate Liedl of Chippewa Falls, Wis., would’ve liked to have had more than the eight hours a week a family court had given him to spend with his 6-month-old son, Jaxon Hunter, the infant who was killed, apparently by a 10-year-old girl at the infant’s day care.
He had filed the paperwork with the court to get a more time, but court delays prevented it, he says in an interview Tuesday with the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. He and Stefanie Hunter, the boy’s mother, broke up while she was pregnant with Jaxon.
“I feel like they robbed me of my time with my son, that I’ll never get back,” Liedl said. “He wasn’t here long enough, and the time he was, I didn’t get to spend with him.”
The 10-year-old, who was a foster child in the day care run by Amber Sweeney, allegedly panicked when she dropped young Jaxon, then stomped on his head on Oct. 30. He died in a St. Paul hospital a few days later.
The other kids and Sweeney were outside at the time.
It was until Nov. 2 that Liedl learned the circumstances of his son’s death and then he couldn’t say anything because the alleged killer is a juvenile. That changed after her initial court appearance on Nov. 5.
“I didn’t have to hold it in anymore,” he told the paper.
He doesn’t blame Sweeney and never will, he said.
“She was looking out for what’s best for the children. She loves children,” Liedl said. “It’s why she did foster care and day care. It could have happened to anybody.”
“I waited 37 years for my own little baby boy,” Liedl said yesterday. “Anytime he was around, he was all smiles and happy. It was smiles and laughs — (being a father) was even better than I imagined.”
