PORTAGE, Mich. (WOOD) — A Portage man who was charged with the murder of an 18-month-old claimed the boy “got sick,” then lied to detectives about his girlfriend being home at the time, court documents say.

Brandon Bryce Sullivan was arrested and charged with felony murder and first-degree child abuse in March for the death of 18-month-old Jacob Flowers of Kalamazoo. An autopsy determined the child died from blunt force head trauma. Police called his death a homicide.

On December 15, Jacob’s mother dropped him off at the home Sullivan shared with his girlfriend, Malia Line-Kapua-Piilani Willis. Willis regularly babysat Jacob, according to a probable cause document.

Sullivan first told detectives he was home with Willis, Jacob and their two children when the 18-month-old “got sick,” the court document says. He described Jacob seizing, then vomiting on the living room floor. He told police the child was struggling to breathe then became lethargic. Sullivan said he stripped his clothes off and put him in a cold shower to revive him.

Willis told detectives a similar story, court documents said. Both Willis and Sullivan claimed that Jacob was fine when he was dropped off and he did not fall or get injured in the meantime. Willis said she tried to call Jacob’s mother and other emergency contacts before calling 911.

Portage firefighters responded to the home on Applegrove Lane near Peartree Lane for reports of an unresponsive 18-month-old. Jacob was taken to the hospital, where he died the following morning.

According to court documents, detectives later found that Willis and her two other children were not home when Sullivan said Jacob “got sick.” She actually left the child alone with Sullivan for over two hours while she ran errands and took her children to doctor’s appointments, the probable cause document said.

Detectives interviewed Sullivan and Willis’ oldest child, who told them Jacob was left alone with Sullivan. She also said there were “secrets about dad and Jacob” that were not supposed to be talked about. She had been told “not to tell a teacher,” according to court documents.

When detectives confronted Willis about this, she confessed that she had lied to investigators. She said she was not home at the time and Sullivan was the only person at home with the child while she left for two hours.

When Sullivan was confronted, detectives say he repeatedly lied to them about Willis being home and claimed the injuries Jacob received in his care were a result of “botched CPR.” Autopsy results show that was not true. The probable cause document said Sullivan “was nervous and highly animated during the entire interview.”

Eventually, detectives say, Sullivan admitted that he was responsible. He confessed he was alone with Jacob for about two hours and that he called Willis after the boy was injured but before calling 911. He also admitted to telling his daughter not to tell her teacher about what happened with Jacob.

“I would just like to say this. I am not saying I didn’t do anything unintentionally because it obviously shows but that’s why I was telling you I don’t know what I did to make that said thing to occur,” Sullivan told detectives, according to the probable cause document.

He agreed to take a polygraph test but did not show up for it. He then told detectives he was not willing to take a polygraph.

In a search of Sullivan’s phone, detectives found he searched the internet for “babies with internal head injuries” minutes after the incident but before being interviewed by police, court documents said.

After a preliminary hearing, Sullivan was ordered Thursday to stand trial.