A Maryland father, identified as Antoine Petty, pleaded guilty to the charges against him regarding the death of his infant son. The father admitted that he Punched his two-month-old baby when he would not stop crying then buried the baby’s body in the woods.

Prince George’s County State’s Attorney’s Office confirmed that Petty pleaded guilty to first-degree child abuse that led to the death of the baby, CBS News reported. The incident took place in September.

Sentencing set this October

Petty will be sentenced by October. The maximum prison term is 40 years.

His wife, on the other hand, Geneice Petty, is still awaiting trial on involuntary manslaughter and accessory after the fact to first-degree murder charges. There is no date set yet as to when she will appear in court.

The prosecutors hoped that the maximum sentence will be given to Antoine. They said that his actions were “so incredibly heinous that he deserves every day of that prison sentence.” They also pointed out that Antoine should have consoled his son and did not beat him because the two-month-old was defenseless.

Details of what happened to the baby

Geneice was not able to get their baby stop crying so Antoine took the baby outside and punched him. The baby did not stop crying so Antoine took him back inside and punched him more.

According to People, the baby showed signs of distress, such as bleeding from his mouth and nose, then Antoine stopped. It is unclear how many hours or minutes passed from when the baby was beaten when the boy die. The real question is why the parents did not ask for immediate emergency response after seeing the baby already exhibiting signs of distress.

Initially, the couple placed their dead baby inside their vehicle, a 1998 Lincoln town car hearse. The baby was left there for 24 hours before they drove to a wooded area and buried him, The Washington Post reported.

The grave was shallow and was just behind a high school. The baby was found a month later after relatives reported the baby as missing.

It is unclear what they told relatives about the whereabouts of the baby. Accordingly, the couple kept the death of the baby as a secret for weeks before Geneice’s mother reported her daughter and grandson missing, NBC News shared. The father reportedly admitted to investigators that he punched his son then led them to where they buried him.

Attorneys for the couple did not comment on the guilty plea yet.