MARION, N.C. (WLOS) — More than a year after a three-month-old girl was found unresponsive at a Marion home, the infant’s father has been charged with murder and felony child abuse, police said.
Shortly after midnight on Sept. 12, 2024, officers with the Marion Police Department responded to a report of an infant in cardiac arrest at 34 Carroll Street. Police said they were met by the child’s father, 31-year-old Timothy Michael Blake Thorne, who directed them upstairs.
Once upstairs, officers found a three-month-old infant unresponsive in a bedroom with the child’s mother, 32-year-old Evelyn Lowery, police said.
Emergency personnel, including Marion police and McDowell County EMS, immediately began lifesaving measures, according to police. The child was transported by EMS to McDowell Hospital, where medical staff continued lifesaving attempts. The infant was later transported to Mission Hospital in Asheville for further treatment, police said.
Despite these efforts, the infant child died later that same day while still at the hospital, police confirmed.
Investigators with the Marion Police Department took over the case and spoke with the infant’s parents about details leading up to the original call, according to police. Investigators conducted interviews and awaited medical records during what police described as a lengthy investigation spanning a year and a half.
On Wednesday, March 25, 2026, Timothy Michael Blake Thorne was charged with one count of murder and one count of felony child abuse. He was already being held in the McDowell County Jail on an unrelated charge and was served with the new charges on March 25, police said. He faces two charges of violate domestic violence protection order, the McDowell County Sheriff’s Office app shows.
Thorne remains in the McDowell County Jail with no bond.