HPD: Dad confesses to killing baby found in fridge

HOUSTON – A Houston man confessed to killing his 6-month-old son before putting the baby's body in his refrigerator.

Investigators said Joseph Mouton, 57, was high when he killed his son, Joseph. They said once he came down from the high, he wrapped the baby in a blanket and put the boy in the freezer in his apartment in the 7100 block of Beechnut Street.

He made a suicidal call to police on Wednesday at 8 a.m. Mouton appeared unresponsive. Sources told KPRC Local 2 that he tried to kill himself by overdosing on pills. He admitted to killing his child as he was being loaded onto a stretcher, officers said.

The baby's cause of death has not been released.

Mouton, a veteran, has been in trouble with the law in the past.

In 1988, he served eight years in prison after pleading guilty to attempted murder charges. In 2004, he served time again for drugs.

Then, in the fall, around the time the baby's mother was about to give birth, he was convicted and served 30 days behind bars for beating her up.

The baby's mother moved to Clear Lake to stay with family after breaking up with Mouton. She told police that she didn't have any money to care for the boy, so she left him with his dad.

Mouton's neighbors were shocked at the crime.

"He was a happy father, a loving father. There were no signs that anything was going wrong," neighbor Evette Williams said.