Authorities picked up 24-year-old Oquan Blake on Thursday night. He's accused of raping and murdering Dalaysia Rhymer, the daughter of a woman he had been dating. He is not the child's father.
Authorities said Blake flew into a rage when the baby's mother spent time with a friend.
The mother left her daughter in Blake's care on June 26. When the baby's grandmother unexpectedly had to go to a hospital with back pain, Blake was alone with the baby.
Before long, he called the child's mother, saying the baby was getting on his nerves and asking her to come home.
The baby's mother had planned to attend a gay pride rally in Manhattan, which irritated him, The Star-Ledger of Newark reported. But he grew even angrier when he learned the baby's mother had skipped the event and was instead at a friend's house.
She returned home to find the baby unresponsive and took her to a hospital, where she died two days later.
An autopsy determined the infant had a fractured skull, a ruptured spleen, broken ribs, a bruised spine and a lacerated liver. It also showed she had been sexually assaulted.
Blake and the child's mother, whose identity was not released, had been dating for about three months. He had previously cared for the infant but never by himself.
The baby's biological father lives out of state.
Calls seeking comment from the prosecutor's office and the state public defender's office were not immediately returned Friday.
