Investigators who blame Chrishon's soldier father for his death refuse to let the criminal probe into the boy's death rest, too.

A band of northeastern North Carolina lawmen, disturbed by Chrishon's suffering thousands of miles from their territory, led the investigation. Chrishon died on their turf, and the local district attorney and his investigator pressed the case.

George Ryan, a Gates County investigator, was so haunted by Chrishon's death he roamed a massive Virginia cemetery for weeks, hunting for the baby's unmarked grave.

"This child's voice is going to be heard in court," said Ryan, who led the effort to unearth Chrishon's casket earlier this year for an autopsy. "It was just one of those cases you won't let go of."

Spc. Claude Morings Jr., who comes from the northeastern North Carolina town of Eure in Gates County, expects to be charged by the military within the next week in Chrishon's death, his attorney Jason Duncan said this week.

Morings swears he never abused his son, Duncan said.

Morings, 30, has been in limbo; put on indefinite leave by the Army, yet still in its clutches.

In 2001, Morings lived with his young family in El Paso, Texas. He was assigned to Fort Bliss; his wife, Chiquita Morings, worked as a medic in the Army Reserve.

On a sweltering August morning, Chiquita Morings reported to duty and left her husband to tend their children: an 18-month-old girl and 2-month-old Chrishon. Claude Morings later told investigators that Chrishon had been fussy that day, unable to be soothed by bottles or naps, according to court records.

Morings told investigators that after he put his son to bed, he heard Chrishon "screech," court documents say. Morings raced to Chrishon's room and saw his son's eyes rolled back as he gasped for air. Morings told investigators that he shook his son as he tried to revive him, according to court documents.

Chrishon was debilitated. His brain swelled; cerebral palsy set in. Doctors blamed a violent shaking, according to court documents.

Army takes action

Military officials at Fort Bliss soon charged Morings with aggravated assault. The next summer, a general court martial convicted him. The court martial ordered Morings to military prison for six months and decided he should be dishonorably discharged once his appeal was exhausted.

In 2002, Chiquita Morings loaded up her children and headed to North Carolina. Morings' conviction stripped the family of military benefits, and Chiquita Morings needed the support of her husband's family in Gates County, said Duncan, Morings' attorney.

As her husband sat behind bars in a Washington-state military prison, Chiquita Morings cared for their sickly son. In November 2002, Chrishon's heart finally gave out, unable to fight lingering complications of the shaking. A local doctor signed the death certificate.

Chiquita Morings buried her 17-month-old son in a cemetery just over the state line in Virginia. The family was too broke to afford a headstone, Duncan said.

Meanwhile, Gates County District Attorney Frank Parrish heard a shaken baby had died in his jurisdiction.

"That's murder," Parrish thought. "This child never had a shot."

The baby had been buried; no investigation was done.

Parrish called John Butts, the state's chief medical examiner in Chapel Hill. He phoned the military. He told his top investigator, Ryan, to start digging.

Morings, freed from prison in early 2003, had no idea a new batch of detectives was working to get him back in jail, Duncan said. He left Washington and joined his wife and daughter in North Carolina and tried to start fresh.

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