Fridley man gets over 25 years for murder of infant son

A Fridley man was sentenced on Monday to over 25 years(306 months) for the murder of his 5-month-old son in March of 2023.

Court records note that Aaron Michael Orlando Rathke, 24, has credit for 256 days already served.

Rathke pleaded guilty in May.

A criminal complaint states that Rathke would choke the infant, Kaiden, until he passed out and revive him with chest compressions whenever he had trouble putting him to sleep.

Kaiden was killed on March 1, 2023. His death was ruled a homicide on Sept. 27. The Medical Examiner noted that Kaiden suffered “multiple acute and healing rib fractures,” brain injuries and internal bleeding.

The night of Kaiden’s death, Rathke told investigators the child made a “gurgling” sound and vomited before he stopped breathing. Rathke said even though the baby had gone cold, he and the child’s mother did not call 911 because they had been able to “bring him back” during past incidents; he explained that Kaiden sometimes would “forget to breathe,” the complaint states. Rathke also said he didn’t want to call an ambulance “because their neighborhood is ‘pretty quiet,’” opting instead to bring Kaiden to the Fridley Police Department.

In June, Kaiden’s mother sent a text message to Rathke’s mother about how he “suffocated” the baby to put him to sleep.

“He suffocated him and then pushed on his chest to bring him back for he can breathe again and this has been happening often…He suffocated him and put him to sleep and then pushed on his chest to bring him back,” the messages state. She went on to note how Kaiden’s rib cage was “out of place.” the mother told police that Rathke would push her away when she tried to intervene.

Court documents state that Rathke has a child, who was seven at the time, with another woman. The 7-year-old’s mother told police that Rathke was violent with her and the child had a history of seizures that stopped when the child stopped staying over with Rathke.