Parents of dead infant appear in court on murder charges

A preliminary hearing is set for March 2 for a mother and father arrested Thursday in the death of their 7-month-old son last year.

Paul and Aurora Anderson appeared separately and by video feed from the jail in Carson City Justice Court on Friday morning.

A criminal complaint charging each with murder by child abuse, second-degree murder and child abuse, neglect or endangerment causing substantial bodily harm was filed Thursday.

On April 19, Paul Anderson said he found his son Tyrone unconscious in his crib.

The father unsuccessfully tried to revive the boy at the direction of a 911 operator, said Detective Dena Lacy.

Lacy said the parents reported Tyrone had fallen 2 feet from their bed onto the carpeted floor the previous evening.

They denied any wrongdoing.

But a pathologist's report of the autopsy revealed Tyrone died of a massive skull fracture that extended four inches from his ear to the back of his head.

The cause of the baby's death was listed as brain swelling and the manner of death listed on the death certificate is homicide.

Paul Anderson, 45, was appointed Ben Walker as his defense attorney.

Walker represented the parents in custody hearings in which they eventually lost custody of their surviving child.

Aurora Anderson, 31, will be appointed an attorney from the public defender's office.

The Andersons are being held without bail.

• Contact reporter F.T. Norton at ftnorton@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1213.