Dad charged with capital murder after boy found dead in washing machine

GARLAND, TX -- Police have confiscated a washing machine from a Dallas-area home where a 4-year-boy died after allegedly ending up in the cleaning equipment.

Garland police Officer Joe Harn says the victim's father, Joseph Blocker, remained in custody Thursday on a capital murder charge.

Bond was set at $500,000 for Blocker, who was arrested after the boy was found dead Tuesday in the residence after the father called 911.

Harn says investigators believe the boy at some point was in the front-loading washing machine and injured. Police are trying to determine the circumstances. Autopsy results are pending on the boy, whose name wasn't immediately released.

Harn says the boy's mother does not live at the home and the father was watching his son. He says the 28-year-old father was at home alone with the victim and a 22-month-old child when he called 911 operators to report his son was unconscious.