Wichita father charged with murder of his toddler nearly one year after death

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A 26-year-old Wichita man has been arrested on suspicion of murder in the June 2022 overdose death of his 22-month-old son, according to Wichita police and the toddler’s obituary.

Calvin Demario Vick was arrested Thursday, just a month shy of the one-year anniversary of Israel Luna-Vick’s death, after lab results came back in the boy’s death, police said Saturday.

The boy’s autopsy was made available in August, court records show. It says he died of a fentanyl overdose. Police told The Eagle last year that they suspected the death was a drug overdose.

Wichita police spokesperson Chad Ditch said he was told the delay was in lab results showing that the drug was fentanyl. But after The Eagle informed him those results were available in August, he thought the delay in charges could be attributed to additional investigations by police.

Vick was arrested on suspicion of kidnapping, criminal threat and domestic battery, which appear to be unrelated to the toddler’s death.

Charges of first-degree murder in the commission of a felony and aggravated endangering of a child were filed against Vick on Thursday, court records show.

Four blue M30 pills were found on the floor in the bedroom where the boy was sleeping last June, according to the autopsy. The M30 pill is supposed to be oxycodone, but has been used as counterfeit pills containing fentanyl, according to the DEA.

The death was ruled accidental at the time.

Vick is the boy’s father, according to the toddler’s obituary. One image on the obituary shows the boy sitting on Vick’s lap with both of them dressed up for a special event. The two were smiling.

Police said Saturday that they were originally called to a local hospital. Police records show they were called to a welfare check just after 10:30 p.m. on June 20, 2022, in the 3600 block of East Harry, where Ascension Via Christi St. Joseph is located.

The boy had already died by the time they arrived, the records show.

In 2017, Vick was charged with two counts of aggravated indecent liberties with a child for incidents that occurred in 2015, when Vick was over the age of 18 and the victim was 9, according to court records. Those charges were later dismissed without prejudice, meaning they could be refiled.

A spokesperson from the DA’s office did not immediately reply on Saturday to questions about the murder charge or the 2017 case.