Justin Dale Bradley stands in court in this August file photo. Bradley, charged in the death of 3-year-old Dakota Arndt, hanged himself in his Hamilton County Jail cell early Saturday, authorities said.Justin Bradley had recently been taken off suicide watch before he hanged himself with a bed sheet early Saturday in the Hamilton County Jail, a source told the Times Free Press.
The source, an Erlanger employee not authorized to speak to the media, said the information came from jail guards who accompanied Bradley to the hospital.
Bradley, 23, who was charged with criminal homicide in the August death of his girlfriend's 3-year-old son, Dakota Arndt, was found unresponsive in his cell shortly before 1 a.m.
Emergency responders attempted CPR during transport to the hospital, according to hospital records obtained by the Times Free Press. An Erlanger employee witnessed hospital staff continue to administer CPR for about 10 minutes before pronouncing Bradley dead around 1:15 a.m.
On hearing the news Saturday, Dakota's maternal grandmother, Carolyn Baker, said, "I can't say that I am sorry that he did that."
She said a hospital nurse told her the night Dakota died that this was probably not the first time the boy had been abused.
"How can you live every single day knowing that you did that to a child?" Baker asked.
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Bradley was charged with beating Dakota to death on Aug. 27. His arraignment -- the formal reading of his charges -- was Sept. 5, and his preliminary hearing was scheduled for Sept. 30.
Bradley was home alone with Dakota for more than an hour on the night the child was rushed to the hospital. Dakota's mother, Brianna Kwekel, was serving a jail sentence for a DUI conviction and left the boy with Bradley and her brother, Cliff Smith.
Smith returned from the store to the Soddy-Daisy home to see Bradley holding Dakota's limp body and yelling, "Wake up!" according to the incident report. Smith called 911 and attempted to give Dakota CPR, the report said.
Baker said nobody in the family had suspected Dakota would be harmed. The child was cared for his entire life and "had a lot of love," she said.
"[Kwekel] wouldn't have left that baby with him [Bradley] if she thought that he would do something like that," Baker said.
Hospital records obtained by the Times Free Press show that Dakota had been treated in June for injuries suspected to be the result of child abuse.
Doctors treated Dakota for swollen testicles.
"After being examined by medical staff, the ER doctor felt there was a possibility of child abuse," the documents state.
The documents show that a protective investigator with the Tennessee Department of Children's Services and the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office were called to the hospital.
Citing an ongoing investigation, neither the sheriff's office nor DCS would release any reports related to the case or say whether any protective action was taken after the June incident.
But Dakota did leave the hospital and return home with Kwekel, Bradley and Smith, family members have said.
DCS confirmed that its workers have been involved in at least one investigation in relation to Dakota.
Terry Leffew, Kwekel's cousin, said, "I personally had never seen her [Kwekel] abuse him or mistreat him in anyway."
Through a family member, Kwekel declined to comment Saturday.
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Kathy Medenblik has known Kwekel for years as the adoptive daughter of family friends who took the girl in after Baker lost custody.
Medenblik said she and her family allowed Kwekel to live with them in their Michigan home starting the end of 2008 after a "confrontation" when Kwekel attacked her adoptive mother.
During the time that Kwekel lived with them, she said, the girl caused a lot of trouble and "always had a lot of anger and was violent." She said Kwekel and her brother, Smith, both were hospitalized after incidents of violence.
In early 2009, the Medenbliks asked Kwekel, then 19, to leave because the whole family felt unsafe, she said.
Afterward, Medenblik said her 15-year-old son told her Kwekel was pregnant with his child.
The Medenblik family stayed involved in Kwekel's life and were at the hospital when she gave birth to their granddaughter in 2009. Medenblik and her husband adopted the baby, who is now 5.
But she said that, over the years, Kwekel has made numerous threats and demands for custody of the girl. The family had several protective orders taken out against Kwekel, she said, and in the summer of 2013, the Medenbliks sold their house and moved to St. Louis.
Kwekel moved to Soddy-Daisy with Dakota later that year.
After Dakota died, Medenblik said that Kwekel called every day wanting to know where their daughter was and demanding custody of her.
"We have not been able to sleep," Medenblik said. "Our biggest fear is that [Kwekel] will come here and take [the girl] off the bus."
Medenblik said she was heartbroken, but not surprised, when she heard that Dakota had been killed.
"We all knew that something was going to happen to Dakota," she said.
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6592.