ACTION 8 UPDATE: Parents charged with murder in death of 6-year-old boy in Auburn

ACTION 8 UPDATE: The parents of a six-year-old boy who died in Auburn last year have been charged with felony murder.

Auburn police arrested the boy’s father, 53-year-old Mark Edward Watford yesterday after a grand jury indicted him. He had originally been charged with aggravated child abuse. The father is being held without bond.

The boy’s mother, Kelly West Watford, had already been arrested on a felony murder charge on June 14, 2023, police say.

As Action 8 News has reported, on June 14, 2023, police and fire medics were called to the 2200 block of Core Drive after getting a call that a child was in medical distress.

Upon their arrival, they found the boy was unresponsive and not breathing. They began life-saving measures and took the boy to East Alabama Health where he died.

Investigators with the Auburn Police Department say they later learned of suspicious circumstances surround the child’s death. Investigators say evidence consistent with a drowning was discovered during both medical treatment and a post-mortem examination.

Officials say investigators learned the child appeared to be extremely malnourished to the extent the child weighed approximately 21 pounds. Additional evidence was discovered that supported the child had sustained prolonged willful abuse and maltreatment, they said.