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Autopsy: Wilson infant was strangled

A 4-month-old Wilson boy who died in February had been strangled, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday.

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Wilson man charged with murder of infant, police say
GREENVILLE, N.C. — A 4-month-old Wilson boy who died in February had been strangled, according to an autopsy report released Wednesday.

Rylan James Buchanan was found unresponsive, face down in his crib, by his mother on Feb. 6, authorities said. She told police that the boy woke up crying an hour earlier and that his father went to change him. She said she could hear through the baby monitor that Rylan had stopped crying, and the boy's father said he had put the baby back to sleep face down in the crib after changing the diaper.

The baby was taken to Wilson Medical Center and then transferred to Vidant Medical Center in Greenville, where he was declared brain dead two days later.

Rylan had a "nearly circumferential abrasion of the neck, retinal hemorrhages of the right eye and (an) anoxic brain injury," the autopsy report states.

Medical examiners determined he died of "asphyxia due to ligature strangulation," meaning some type of string or cord was wrapped around his neck, depriving his brain of oxygen, according to the autopsy report.

Brian Christopher Buchanan, 30, of 3711-B Kimberly Lane, has been charged with first-degree murder and felony child abuse with serious physical injury in the boy's death.

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