Jeffrey Farrey’s Attorney Says His Client Did Not Kill His Son

A former St. Charles resident is on suicide watch in the El Paso County Jail in Texas, where he is being held in the death of his 5-month-old son, Jackson Farrey, whose body was found Wednesday in the New Mexico desert, ABC 7 in El Paso reports.

Jeffrey Farrey, 22, was extradited from Michigan on Wednesday and booked into the El Paso County Jail, where he was charged with injury to a child by omission, the El Paso Times reported Thursday. The soldier, based in Fort Bliss, Texas, was arrested Sunday in Michigan as absent without leave.

ABC 7 in El Paso reported his bail is set at $1.5 million.

Farrey’s attorney told the El Paso Times on Friday that his client is “very distraught.” Joe Spencer also told the newspaper that Jenna Farrey is “manipulative” with her husband. "He is as much of a victim as the child. He had nothing to do with the death of that child," Spencer told the paper. “... He lost his son but it wasn't at his hand.”  

Farrey, his wife, Jenna, both formerly of St. Charles, their 17-month-old, son Blake, and Jackson were reported missing in West El Paso on Friday, Nov. 15, 2013. The parents and Blake were found Sunday in an Escanaba, Mich., hotel.

Jenna Farrey was arrested for violating her her probation on a 2012 case in Texas for abandoning a child with intent to return, ABC 7 in El Paso reported. Convicted in January, terms of her five-year probation barred her from leaving the state. She has waived extradition and is expected to be taken from the Delta County Correctional Facility in Michigan to El Paso this week.

• Read the full story by ABC 7 in El Paso.

• Read the El Paso Times coverage on Friday.

Authorities on Wednesday found a body they believe is Jackson’s in the desert near Orogrande, N.M., according to media reports earlier this week.

Jeffrey Farrey is assigned to the First Armored Division at Fort Bliss and missed formation on Friday, so a quad was sent to check on his well-being when he failed to respond to phone and text messages, according to ABC 7 in El Paso.

What the squad of soldiers found in the home alarmed them enough to call El Paso authorities, who launched an intensive search for the family, the El Paso Times reported Tuesday.

Related:

• Thursday, Nov. 21, 2013: Former St. Charles Man Charged in Infant Son’s Death in Texas

From the El Paso Times:

• Photos: Search for body of Jackson Farrey

• Nov 21, 2013: Michigan Daily Press: Jenna Farrey waives right to extradition hearing