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Blount County father guilty of murdering infant 10 years ago

A Blount County jury returned the verdict Friday against Tony Light, 33.

BLOUNT COUNTY, Tenn. — A Blount County jury has convicted a 33-year-old man in the suffocation death of his infant child a decade ago.

Jurors returned the murder verdict Friday against Tony L. Light after a four-day trial in Blount County Circuit Court. He faces a sentence of life in prison without parole.

In 2011, while serving time in a Tennessee prison, Light of Louisville admitted suffocating the child in letters to investigators, according to the Blount County Sheriff's Office.

Authorities found the unresponsive infant in February 2011 in a home in Rockford.

The infant was pronounced dead at Blount Memorial Hospital and investigators said an autopsy showed the cause of death was determined to be suffocation.

Credit: TDOC
Tony Light, while held in a Tennessee prison.

The investigation continued as years passed, and several interviews were conducted including ones with Light.

"Recently, while in a Tennessee state prison on unrelated charges, Light sent letters to investigators stating he was responsible for the infant’s death, and how it had occurred while he was on a drug binge," the Blount County Sheriff's Office said in a 2018 release.

Investigators said they then worked with the Blount County District Attorney General's Office and had Light transported to Blount County. After additional questioning, he was charged.

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