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Accused father tells 911: 'She's laying there like she's broke'

A Louisburg man charged with killing his 14-month-old daughter last week frantically called 911 for help because she was unresponsive.

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Johnathan Perry in court
WAKE FOREST, N.C. — A Louisburg man frantically called 911 for help last week, saying his 14-month-old daughter wasn't moving while he was with her at a Wake Forest house.

"My baby, she's breathing, but she won't say nothing," Johnathan Blake Perry told the dispatcher in the Dec. 7 call, which was released Tuesday. "Her eyes are like she's dead."

Perry screamed in anguish as he tried to revive the toddler, Jadajai Wright, and he yelled impatiently at the dispatcher, who tried to instruct him on performing CPR.

"What am I supposed to do?" he asked as he interrupted the dispatcher. "Don't keep telling me stuff. Hurry up (and send help)."

"She's just laying there like she's broke or something," he said as he performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. "She's trying to breathe. She just won't open her eyes.

"Man, what's wrong with my baby," he said, crying.

Paramedics took the toddler to WakeMed, and she was then flown to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, where she was pronounced dead.

Perry, 23, of 330 Hazelwood Circle, is charged with murder and intentional child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. He is being held without bond in the Wake County jail.

According to an affidavit in an application for a warrant to search the house at 522 N. Allen Road, Perry told the chaplain at UNC Hospitals that he gave his daughter a bottle as she sat on the couch and then went to the bathroom. When he returned about 10 minutes later, Jadajai was unresponsive, and when he picked her up, he thought he heard her neck snap, the affidavit states.

Court documents state that Jadajai had brain swelling, a hemorrhage in her eyes, a bruised lung and possibly a broken leg. WakeMed officials called law enforcement authorities because they suspected abuse in the case.

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