A 25-year-old father from Ohio has been sentenced to over 20 years in prison for the tragic death of his infant son. Earlier this year, the father fatally shook and squeezed his 4-month-old child.

On Monday, Wood County Common Pleas Judge Mary “Molly” L. Mack sentenced Joseph D. Bonito to serve between 25 and 31 1/2 years in a state prison for the death of young Carson J. Bonito. According to court documents accessed by Law&Crime, Bonito, initially charged with murder, accepted a plea bargain. He pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter and two counts of felonious assault. The manslaughter charge brought a sentence of 11 to 16 1/2 years, while each assault charge carried a seven-year sentence, all to be served consecutively.

On February 11, just before noon, officers from the Fostoria Police Department, along with emergency medical responders, were dispatched to a home on the 1500 block of North Countyline Street after receiving a report of an unresponsive infant, according to the Sentinel-Tribune, referencing an earlier news release.

Bonito made the 911 call, informing the dispatcher that he had last checked on his son approximately three hours earlier to feed him. The child now seemed “white” and “unresponsive,” as reported by Toledo ABC affiliate WTVG in a report.

“I don’t know what’s wrong,” Bonito confessed to the dispatcher.

Upon arriving, first responders immediately began lifesaving procedures and transported the victim to nearby Fostoria ProMedica Hospital for additional medical treatment. Carson succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead a short while later.

Investigators said Carson appeared to have suffered numerous injuries consistent with abuse and that when he was questioned by police, Bonito admitted to physically abusing the victim the previous day.

“It sounds like it was a shaking baby-type incident with possibly some squeezing of the baby,” Chief Gabe Wedge reportedly said at a news conference the day after Carson’s death.

Emma Shultz, the victim’s mother, addressed the court during Monday’s sentencing hearing, providing an emotional statement about her son.

“I will remember how happy he was and how his handsome smile would light up an entire room,” she said, according to courtroom reporting from the Sentinel-Tribune. “He deserved a lot more time than he was given. I truly felt I lost everything I found beautiful in this world.”

She went on to describe how her other son, parents, and siblings had all lost an irreplaceable part of their lives, which had been “turned upside down in the worst way.”

“This feeling that a piece of me is missing will never go away,” she reportedly said. “I don’t understand and I likely never will.”

Bonito declined to address the court when given the opportunity. His attorney reportedly told the judge that his client had accepted responsibility for his actions and shown remorse for the tragic outcome.