- Authorities say Andrew Ross Celaius, 37, of Pensacola, Florida, died at a hospital Tuesday nearly a week after hanging himself inside his Escambia County jail cell
- Celaius was arrested on April 9 and charged with multiple offenses, including six counts of aggravated child abuse
- He survived the reported suicide attempt and was taken to a local hospital before being placed in protective custody
- He was arrested April 9 after an investigation determined he’d subjected his unidentified girlfriend’s daughter to a list of heinous, sadistic acts
- Sheriff officials said video shows Celaius placing an electric collar on the girl to shock her awake at night as he stood over her wearing a werewolf mask
- The sheriff said Celaius also shot the girl with a bb gun, bludgeoned her with milk bottles and burned her with a blow torch on separate occasions
- Celaius’ alleged accomplice, Eric Furnans, 36, remained in jail Friday night after police say he tried to destroy evidence for Celaius following his initial arrest
- Jail records show Furnan’s bond has been set at $67,500
The Florida man authorities say donned a werewolf mask while electrocuting, burning, shooting and bludgeoning his former girlfriend’s two-year-old daughter died in the hospital Tuesday after trying to kill himself six days prior.
Andrew Ross Celaius of Pensacola, Florida, had been placed in protective custody while being treated at a local hospital days after he was found hanging inside his Escambia County jail cell.
An Escambia County Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman confirmed the accused abuser, who WEAR-TV reports was acquitted of murdering another two-year-old child back in 2006, finally succumbed to his injuries earlier this week, according to NBC 4.
The 37-year-old was arrested April 9 after a police investigation determined he’d subjected his unidentified girlfriend’s young daughter to a long list of heinous, sadistic acts while the child slept.
Investigators said Celaius even recorded the encounters on video. Sheriff officials who found videos of the acts said the torture was ‘the thing nightmares are made of.’
‘It goes far beyond just a child being abused,’ Sheriff David Morgan said during a May 1 press conference, hours before Celaius was found hanging in his cell.
Escambia County Sheriff Chief Deputy Chip Simmons said video investigators obtained shows Celaius placing an electric dog collar on the two-year-old to shock her awake at night as he stood over her wearing a werewolf mask. The sheriff said Celaius also shot the girl with a bb gun, bludgeoned her with milk bottles and burned her with a blow torch on separate occasions
‘Some of this evidence may have been shared in the cloud and shared with other people,’ the sheriff continued. ‘We had a number of instances where this individual, the suspect, would use a [bb] gun to just shoot a sleeping child, for no other reason but to wake the child up and hurt the child.’
Escambia County Sheriff Chief Deputy Chip Simmons said video investigators obtained shows Celaius placing an electric dog collar on the two-year-old to shock her awake at night as he stood over her wearing a werewolf mask.
‘You can see the dog collar being activated and then [hear] the shrieking and the pain the child has suffered from the result of this,’ Simmons told reporters on Wednesday.
On another occasion, Morgan said Celaius threw full bottles of milk at the sleeping girl. He even burned her with a blowtorch during another incident, the sheriff said.
Investigators say the child’s mother had no idea her daughter was being abused.
They said she didn’t realize what was happening until she brought her daughter to the hospital for treatment of what the mother thought was ringworm.
Emergency room personnel who specialize in child abuse cases informed the mom the dark spots were actually burn marks, authorities said.
Celaius’ alleged accomplice, Eric Furnans, 36, remained in jail Friday night after police say he tried to destroy evidence for Celaius after the alleged abuser was initially arrested.
Jail records show Furnan’s bond has been set at $67,500.Read more:
