An Auburn man who served prison time for severely injuring a 2-year-old boy in 2012 has been indicted on a murder charge in connection with the child’s death five years later, according to the Worcester County District Attorney’s Office.
A Worcester County grand jury indicted Steven Stuart, 35, of Auburn, in the death of Jayden Carlson, who was 7 when he died in December 2017, District Attorney Joseph D. Early Jr.’s office announced June 23.
Stuart was arraigned June 18 in Worcester Superior Court on one count of murder and ordered held without bail. His next court appearance was scheduled for July 20.
The murder charge comes more than a decade after the assault that initially sent Stuart to prison.
Stuart was convicted in September 2015 of assault and battery on a child causing serious bodily injury stemming from an August 2012 incident involving Jayden, according to the district attorney’s announcement. He was sentenced to six to eight years in state prison.
Jayden was 2 at the time of the assault and suffered severe, life-altering injuries that resulted in continuing medical complications, prosecutors said. He died in December 2017.
The district attorney’s office said Jayden died as a result of the injuries he sustained in the 2012 assault.
The June indictment charges Stuart with murder in connection with that death. The district attorney’s announcement did not provide additional details about what led prosecutors to bring the murder charge in 2026 or why the indictment came nearly nine years after Jayden died.
