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    Saturday, May 18, 2024

    Report: Mother Of Toddler Says She Was Asleep During Fatal Assault

    The mother of 3-year-old Andrew Slyter was sleeping when her boyfriend fatally assaulted the toddler in Old Lyme two months ago, according to court documents released Monday.

    Craig Sadosky, 35, is accused of sexually assaulting and killing the boy at Sadosky's home in the Point O' Woods section of Old Lyme on Nov. 19. New details of the case were made public Monday when a New London judge partially unsealed a search-warrant affidavit prepared during the police investigation.

    Sarah J. Slyter, who lives in Lisbon but sometimes stayed at Sadosky's house with her son, told investigators that she went to bed at 12:30 a.m. on Nov. 19 after putting Andrew and Sadosky's 5-year-old son to bed in separate rooms. Slyter said she woke up around 3:30 a.m. and heard Sadosky “cleaning rooms in the house.” She woke up again at 7:30 a.m. and found Sadosky in the bathroom with her son, whose skin was blue.

    The boy was breathing but unresponsive, Slyter told investigators. Sadosky appeared to have recently showered. Her son's pajamas were in the washing machine and he was wearing different underwear, she said. The bed linens had been stripped and her son's jacket had leaves and dirt on it that had not been there the previous night, she told the police.

    Slyter and Sadosky took Andrew to the Shoreline Clinic in Essex, where Slyter told the attending physician her son “fell on the lip of the driveway.” Dr. Megan Cosentino told police Slyter was nervous but was able to answer questions pertaining to her son's medical background “in a clear and concise fashion.” When asked to provide more details on her son's injury, she said she was asleep when it occurred and to ask her boyfriend.

    Andrew Slyter was taken by LifeStar helicopter to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was pronounced dead. Personnel at both medical facilities thought the boy's injuries were inconsistent with the method of injuries reported by the mother and Sadosky. Sadosky was placed under arrest after providing a statement.

    The state Office of the Chief Medical Examiner conducted an autopsy and attributed Andrew's death to blunt head trauma. The death was ruled a homicide. State police initially charged Sadosky, a computer analyst, with first-degree assault and risk of injury to a minor. The New London State's Attorney's office later upgraded the charges to include capital felony murder and first-degree sexual assault. Sadosky is being held at the MacDougall-Walker Correctional Institution on a $2.5 million bond.

    The court documents detailing the state's case against Sadosky had remained sealed at the request of prosecutors, who said the investigation was ongoing. With the initial sealing order about to expire, the defense asked Judge Susan B. Handy to keep the documents sealed because they contained admissions made by Sadosky that, if made public, could prejudice his right to a fair trial.

    The judge ordered the search warrants unsealed after she redacted sentences and paragraphs that mostly contained statements made by Sadosky. Handy said she had balanced the defendant's right to a fair trial with the public's interest and the public's right to know.

    State police had obtained warrants to search Sadosky's house at 67 Hillcrest Road and his 2006 Honda CR-V sport utility vehicle, which they had seized and taken to Troop F in Westbrook. They also obtained search warrants to test items that Sadosky and Andrew were wearing. At the home, the police seized blankets, towels and several items of clothing, including a toddler-sized pair of “Thomas the Tank Engine” pajamas and man-sized underwear, shirts and pants. They reported seizing a section of leather couch containing “a bloodlike stain.”

    From Sadosky's car, police took several more clothing items, hair-like fibers, and a piece of aluminum foil containing residue from suspected marijuana.

    Sadosky's next court date is Feb. 5.

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