Babysitter gets life in death of 2-year-old in freezer

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A babysitter has been sentenced to life in prison after assaulting a 2-year-old boy he was watching and putting the child’s body in a freezer.

Media outlets report 25-year-old Jarrel Stricklen of South Charleston was sentenced Thursday in Kanawha (kuh-NAW) County Circuit Court after pleading guilty to murder. He’ll be eligible to seek parole in 15 years.

Stricklen admitted that he didn’t try to help little Gavin Aldridge when he stopped breathing in May 2015. He first told police the boy drowned in a bathtub. In court, he said he put him in a freezer because he was scared of going to prison.

An autopsy determined he died of assault and asphyxiation with the possibility of hypothermia.