Ex-boyfriend mad about breakup kills ex’s toddler while babysitting, FL cops say
A man upset about his recent breakup with his girlfriend agreed to babysit her kids, then he killed her 2-year-old daughter, Florida authorities said.
A jury convicted 27-year-old Travis Thompson of first-degree murder, and a judge sentenced him to life in prison, the State Attorney’s Office for the Fifth Judicial Circuit shared June 5.
His attorney declined to comment to McClatchy News, adding that the case is being appealed.
Deputies with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office wrote in an arrest affidavit that Thompson and the child’s mother were longtime friends and had been in a relationship for a few months before breaking up a week before the incident on May 3, 2022.
Text messages revealed Thompson was angry about the breakup, investigators said.
The woman and her two children had moved out of the camper she had shared with Thompson, but on May 2, 2022, she and the kids stayed over so she could help him get his vehicle fixed the next day, according to deputies.
The following morning, Thompson dropped off the older child at the bus stop and came back home, then the woman left for work, leaving her 2-year-old daughter with Thompson, deputies said.
Thompson said within 30 minutes of his ex leaving, he heard a “loud thud” while he was in the bathroom and came out to find the toddler limp, according to investigators.
He called his ex and told her to come back, deputies said.
He waited 30 minutes for her to get back, then as they started driving the girl to the hospital, she stopped breathing, deputies said. This prompted them to call 911 for the first time, about 37 minutes after Thompson said he first found the girl unresponsive, deputies said.
They met an ambulance and handed her over, but she died at a hospital, according to investigators.
During an autopsy, the medical examiner found the girl’s lower spine had been severed from “significant, gradual force,” causing internal bleeding, according to the arrest affidavit.
The results of the autopsy came out four months later, at which point Thompson was arrested. He denied harming the child, saying he didn’t know how the girl sustained her injuries.
He was charged with murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse.
Marion County is about a 90-mile drive northwest from Orlando.
This story was originally published June 5, 2025 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Ex-boyfriend mad about breakup kills ex’s toddler while babysitting, FL cops say."