‘No remorse’: Florida sheriff says man beat his 4-month-old daughter to death

BARTOW, Fla. — A Bartow man is behind bars after beating his 4-month-old daughter to death, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.

It happened the evening of Feb. 22, Sheriff Grady Judd and Police Chief Andy Ray said during a joint news conference Wednesday afternoon.

“I want to introduce you to a murderer, to someone who viciously murdered his beautiful 4 [month] old baby girl…” Judd said while holding a photo of 22-year-old Jacob Kubai.

Kubai reportedly took his wife to work around 5 p.m. before returning home for the night with their daughter Willow, whose nickname is “Strawberry.”

According to the sheriff, Kubai told detectives that while making dinner that night, he realized he didn’t have chicken broth and drove to Walmart with his daughter.

“We pulled the video at Walmart and he has no baby,” Judd said.

Kubai told detectives he returned home, fed the baby and continued checking on her every 10 minutes. During his 8:10 p.m. check, Kubai said Willow was unresponsive. 

He told detectives he performed CPR on his daughter and drove her to Bartow Regional Medical Center.

The baby reportedly arrived with no brain activity and “suspicious physical injuries,” prompting the hospital to contact authorities.

Sheriff Judd said the baby was flown to St. Joseph’s in Tampa where doctors determined she had a broken skull, multiple impact bruises to the forehead, 10 fractured ribs, a hemorrhage in her spine and multiple layers of brain bleeds.

“The baby fought for life and lived two more days until she died,” Judd said.

When Kubai was questioned, he wasn’t able to explain how Willow got her injuries and then began saying things like “none of this is real,” according to the sheriff.

“He showed zero remorse. He shed not one tear, and yet he has literally beaten and squeezed his baby to death at four months old. No remorse. No emotion, nothing,” Judd said.

An autopsy found that the baby died from “blunt force trauma of the head.”

Kubai was arrested on March 5 and charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child and several child abuse counts.

While Kubai had no previous criminal history, investigators said they learned he left the baby alone with no caregiver on two previous occasions.

The investigation is ongoing. 

“He’s one that I wonder why God allows him to breathe air,” Judd said. “I don’t know how a father could do this to his child, but I do know he should be locked up for as long as the law allows.”