Dad charged in beating death of infant daughter

AMENIA "I always thought the two of them were going to kill each other with the way they fought," one neighbor said of the parents. "I didn't think they would kill a baby." Dutchess County sheriff's deputies arrested 29-year-old postal worker William Tate on Friday and charged him with the beating death of his 3-month-old daughter Reese. "I can't believe anybody would do that to a baby," said the neighbor, who declined to give her name. Detectives say the attack happened Wednesday, and neighbors confirmed it happened in the Tate's Willow Lane home in Amenia. No one answered the door there Monday. Detectives acknowledged that Tate cooperated with investigators, but they would not detail what sparked the suspect's alleged fit of rage. Detectives said Tate's wife was not home during the alleged attack, but that she later drove her helpless daughter to a Connecticut hospital, where staffers notified the authorities. Tate, meantime, remains locked up without bail inside the Dutchess County jail.