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DULUTH – A 30-year-old Duluth man was charged with second-degree murder on Friday in the death of his fiancée's 3-year-old son, Cameron, earlier this year.

Jordan W. Carter was arrested earlier this week, more than three months after the boy was found unresponsive at a home in the city's eastern Lakeside neighborhood on Sept. 4.

The boy was flown to a Minneapolis hospital due to the severity of his injuries — including bruising scattered around his body and a traumatic brain injury — and doctors "were concerned this was nonaccidental trauma and that the injuries they saw were consistent with child abuse," charges state.

Cameron died two days later after "all life-saving measures were exhausted," charges say.

Based upon the "suspicious nature of the child's injuries," the Duluth Police Department immediately began an investigation, the department said in a news release. "Investigators learned the child was in the care of the mother's fiancé at the time of injury."

Investigators said that several hours before Carter called 911 to report the boy as unresponsive, he texted the boy's mother: "You gave birth to satan."

The investigation is ongoing, and authorities did not have specific details about the causes of Cameron's injuries in the charges released Friday.

In October the boy's mother, Heather Bouchard, wrote on Facebook that "3 years 10 months and 6 days was not enough time with Cameron. I could have had forever and that still wouldn't have been long enough with my greatest love. I truly struggle knowing I will never get to hold my baby again."

On Tuesday the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office ruled the death a "homicide by blunt force trauma to the head and neck," charges say.

Carter was arrested on Thursday, and he remained at the St. Louis County Jail on Friday.

Following the arrest, Bouchard posted: "Justice is here for you Cameron!"

Carter's bail was set at $500,000 at his first court appearance Friday. His next hearing will be Jan. 12. If convicted, he faces up to 40 years in prison.

Brooks Johnson • 218-491-6496