Wake Forest father charged with fatally beating his son a year after infant’s death
A year after his infant son’s death, a Wake Forest man was arrested last week on allegations he fatally beat the baby.
Patrick Rayvon Jordan, 24, is charged with second-degree murder and felony child abuse in the Feb. 2, 2024, death of 2-month-old Chozen Jordan, according to court documents.
Emergency Medical Services was called to a Youngsville home Jan. 22, 2024, after Chozen allegedly went unresponsive while being held, court documents state. Examinations at the hospital later showed the infant had suffered a brain hemorrhage, broken ribs and broken collarbones.
Jordan was charged by the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office on April 21, 2025, in his son’s death and arrested at his home two days later, according to court documents, which don’t explain the delay in charging him.
Chozen’s autopsy report states his injuries occurred about 11:30 p.m. Jan. 22, 2024, in the living room of the home. The infant tested positive for respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) at the hospital, and additional imaging showed bilateral retinal hemorrhages, old and new rib fractures, a traumatic brain injury and a vertebral column injury with bleeding around his spinal cord, according to the autopsy.
The baby was declared brain-dead, and medical care was withdrawn the day before he died, the autopsy states.
What the baby’s parents told investigators
Jordan and the child’s mother told investigators they’d had an argument Jan. 9, so the mother and baby went to stay with the maternal grandmother. When Jordan and his sister went to pick them up five days later, the aunt noted Chozen’s collarbone “felt strange, at which point the mother became defensive stating ‘that was normal for babies,’” the autopsy report says.
The day Chozen was fatally injured, his parents had left him with family while they shopped for a car, then picked him up at 9 p.m., according to the autopsy.
“When they arrived home, [M]om went to the bedroom to rest and [the] father took the baby to the living room as he was fussy,” the autopsy states. “The father opened the door to get some air and told detectives the door ‘may have blown back and struck the baby.’”
When Chozen’s mother heard her son gasping, she ran into the living room, where she found him unresponsive and shook him to try to wake him up, according to the autopsy report. Jordan then called 911. The infant’s cause of death was ultimately found to be blunt force injury of the head.
Child Protective Services told investigators there were no prior reports of abuse at the home, the autopsy states.
Jordan posted $500,000 bail Saturday, court records show. He is scheduled to return to court next month.
Other domestic violence allegations
Chozen’s death isn’t the first time Jordan has been accused of domestic violence.
In January, he was charged in Wake Forest with assault on a female and a misdemeanor crime of domestic violence after allegedly grabbing his girlfriend by her shirt and dragging her out of a vehicle, scraping her legs, court records show.
The Wake County District Attorney’s Office dismissed the case Monday, explaining there was no prosecuting witness and that its motion to continue the case was denied.
In August 2024, Jordan was charged by Wake Forest police with purchasing a firearm in violation of a domestic violence protective order, according to court documents. He’s accused of possessing a Sig Sauer P365 .380 handgun, which violates the conditions of the February 2024 order, the arrest warrant states.
Jordan allegedly used that firearm Aug. 11, 2024, in a shootout with his roommate in Wake Forest, search warrants state. Two people were injured, and Jordan reportedly told investigators the next day he’d used the Sig Sauer handgun in the shooting, according to the search warrants.
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This story was originally published April 30, 2025 at 3:31 PM.
