10:44 PM CDT on Wednesday, April 22, 2009

By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
rabshire@dallasnews.com / The Dallas Morning News

The voices said don't do it, but Toby Payne told police he didn't listen.

Payne, 33, told a 911 dispatcher that voices in his head had tried to stop him from strangling his 2-year-old son at their Allen home Tuesday, according to court documents.

Sean Payne died shortly before 7 a.m. Wednesday at Children's Medical Center Dallas, according to the Dallas County medical examiner's office.

"The child had injuries consistent with being choked," said Sgt. Jon Felty, an Allen police spokesman.

The father called authorities to the 1100 block of Elmbrook Court about 1:30 p.m. Tuesday, police said. He told the dispatcher his son had stopped breathing.

When officers arrived at the home, they found Payne in a hallway in the fetal position, mumbling and crying. When they asked where the child was, Payne pointed to the living room.

Police found the child face down on the floor, his eyes open and skin bluish and cool to the touch. He had no discernible pulse and did not appear to be breathing.

While giving the child CPR, officers asked Payne whether the child had swallowed something or ingested something toxic.

"I did it," Payne told them, according to an affidavit requesting a search warrant.

"Did what?" one officer asked.

"I strangled him," he said, according to the document.

Initially arrested on a charge of attempted murder, Payne now faces a charge of capital murder and is being held without bail in the Collin County Jail, police said.

Payne's wife was working in Dallas when her husband, who is unemployed, called 911, Felty said. She could not be reached for comment Wednesday.

The couple also have an 8-year-old daughter, and Child Protective Services is seeking temporary custody of her, said Marissa Gonzales, spokeswoman for the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services. She said the girl is with relatives and might be allowed to remain with them.

"This is not unusual in a case like this," she said.

Gonzales said that CPS investigated an allegation of neglectful supervision against Payne in October 2008 but that the allegation proved unfounded.

Neighbors of the Paynes in south Allen's Brookside subdivision said they were shocked to learn of the boy's death.

Well-kept lawns and clean, paved alleys frame one- and two-story brick homes in the walled neighborhood. A sign at one entrance announces a homeowners' association Crime Watch meeting.

Kieran McGeady, who lives next door to the Paynes, got home around 10 Tuesday night. He thought the police were in the neighborhood as part of the Crime Watch program, until he saw the news.

"They seemed very quiet," he said of the Paynes. "The only noise I ever heard was their little Yorkie yapping."

Aida Ortiz, another neighbor, said she often spoke to Payne's wife when their paths crossed. She said she never heard anything troublesome.

"I've never seen him act ugly with his family," Ortiz said.

The Rev. W.L. Stafford Sr. of Fellowship Baptist Church of Allen said congregants were praying for Payne and his family, who attend the church. He was at a loss to explain how something like this could happen.

"I don't even try to make sense of something like this," he said. "It's in God's hands.

"These are the times that try our faith."

Staff writer Ashleigh Reuter contributed to this report.

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Emphasis added by H4K Editor