Wisconsin Man Pleads Guilty to Killing 5-Year-Old Son Over Cheesecake

A Wisconsin father who fatally punched his child over a slice of cheesecake is facing nearly 40 years behind bars.

According to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 30-year-old Travis Stackhouse pleaded guilty to homicide charges in connection to the 2019 incident. Prosecutors say the man had become angry that his children had eaten the cake he had received for Father’s Day, so much so that he struck his 5-year-old son with the back of his hand, which reportedly contained metal from a surgery.

Stackhouse allegedly went to a bar with his friends later that night and didn’t return home until 2 a.m.; it was at that time the child’s mother decided to call 911 after realizing the boy was unresponsive. Officers arrived shortly after, and the child was pronounced dead at the scene. 

The father initially told authorities that the 5-year-old sustained injuries after falling down the stairs, but his 6-year-old son told a different story. He claimed his father had struck his brother hours before. Stackhouse later confessed to hitting his son for eating the cake, but insisted the child had fallen down the stairs later that day. The Milwaukee County Medical Examiner’s Office concluded the victim had suffered a ruptured stomach, bruised kidneys, and a torn adrenal gland. The cause of death was said to be blunt force trauma to the abdomen.