UPDATE: Dylan Meng Charged with First Degree Murder of 2-Month-Old Son

Tools

Story Published: Jul 11, 2008 at 9:14 PM MST

Story Updated: Nov 20, 2008 at 11:02 PM MST

By Rick Montañez

Video
A Bonneville County man is charged with first degree murder, for the death of his 2-month-old son. This all started when police got a call about a baby that wasn't breathing. The man being charged is 36-year-old Dylan Meng.

He's facing 1st degree murder, in this case though, it wasn't premeditated. Eyewitness News talked to County Prosecutor Dane Watkins, Jr. today, he said the charge is first degree because it was aggravated battery that lead to the death of the someone so young.

"Its not understandable," says Bonneville County Sgt. Karl Casperson. "We don't have a lot of situations like this."

Situations where a father, described to me by neighbors as a good father, is charged with murdering his own newborn.

"Its very tough, our hearts go out to all the families of all that were involved. It's very tragic, one of those things that didn't need to happen, I'm sure," says Sgt. Casperson.

Thursday night, deputies and paramedics were called to this home on the corner of North Ranchwood and 97th north. When they got there...2-month old Alexander Meng wasn't breathing, he was rushed to the hospital, but was later pronounced dead. Investigators spent the evening interviewing the child's mother Toni and his father Dylan.

Those interviews, along with a medical exam lead the Sheriff's Office to arrest Dylan Meng on first degree murder charges. This leaves neighbors in shock.

"It surprises me a lot, just because he was such a proud father, such a good person," says one of Meng's neighbors.

In fact, this neighbor, who requested she not be identified, says the family just celebrated Alex last weekend.

"They had a baby blessing for him. That was just really neat to see 'em bless their baby," says the neighbor.

Meng was arraigned this afternoon.

Judge: "This carries, if you're convicted, life in prison with a minimum 10 years. 5 thousand dollars compensatory fine, and 50 thousand dollars fine. You understand that sir?"
Meng: "Yeah."

Eyewitness News did some checking into the background of Meng, the only thing we dug up were several speeding tickets, and a failure to provide auto insurance. Which, might explain why everyone is shocked that Meng would allegedly do something like this.

He is being held on a 5 million dollar bond. An autopsy is scheduled to determine the actual cause of death.

Current Weather

Icon
Current Temp 29.0 °F
Fair
Video
More Weather

Upload directly from your mobile device.

Learn how

YouNews

This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.

On Demand

Resources and info you need to prepare for the switch to DTV.

Stay Connected

Viewer Poll

Since state law requires a balanced state budget, Gov. Otter is concerned that falling tax revenue might force the state to make much deeper cuts than currently planned. What do you think about the Idaho law requiring a balanced budget?

  • It seemed like a good idea at the time, but these are unusual times. How much more can we cut out of education, etc.? We need to revisit the balanced budget law.
  • If more education funding and state services need to be cut, so be it. Sometimes it's painful to live within a budget, but it's the right thing to do.
  • Not sure.

Connect with KIDK