The Rowan County Sheriff’s Department has charged Donald Ray Tucker, 40, of 1860 Anson Ave., with murder. Sheriff’s Lt. John C. Sifford said Tucker was housesitting for residents at 117 Country Village Drive in western Rowan County.

Tucker’s 2-month-old grandson, Sean L. Tucker, died Oct. 10 at Rowan Regional Medical Center.

Sifford said Tucker was on a couch when the baby died, but he declined to elaborate. Sean lived with Tucker and Crystal L. Tucker, the infant’s 20-year-old mother.

Tucker may face other charges, Sifford said.

“That’s really all we can release at present,” he said. “Sometimes when we want to successfully prosecute a case, we have to limit ourselves to what we can say.”

A family member who did not want to be identified said Tucker had been babysitting three other children at the house with Crystal. Tucker was sleeping in a lying position with the baby after other family members had specifically told him not to sleep with the baby. Tucker rolled over and suffocated the baby, a detective told the family member.

Kannapolis police arrested Tucker about 5 p.m. Wednesday near 1104 Red St. during a routine traffic stop, Sifford said. He was in the Rowan County Detention Center with no chance of bond.

At the time of the infant’s death, family members questioned whether raised blood vessels on the baby’s face and rear suggested that he had been suffocated, but Gary Fink, a medical examiner at the hospital, told the Post in October that such signs are not unusual.

Jim Cook, director of the Cabarrus County Departmentof Social Services, told the Post in October that his agency had provided services to the family, but added that it found no sign that Sean had been abused or neglected.

“We had known this child and were providing some services to this child,” Cook said. “It didn’t appear that there was a real serious risk to this child. There’s no indication that this child had been injured. There were no signs of any trauma. I don’t believe there is anything we would have or could have done differently.”

The Post couldn’t reach Cook this morning for further comment.