Following a 90-minute preliminary hearing Wednesday, Jason Forsyth was held for court on all charges in connection with the 2018 death of his former girlfriend’s 19-month-old son, Ky’Mani Moore.

Old Lycoming Township police allege that on the morning of Dec. 21, 2018, Forsyth, 22, caused the toddler’s death by striking him so hard that the boy died of blunt force injuries.

The toddler’s internal injuries were so catastrophic that a fifth of his blood loss was found in his abdomen, according to testimony presented before District Judge William Solomon.

“He was laying on the floor. Half his body was warm and half was cold,” KyMani’s mother, Alyssa Carpenter, one of three people to testify during the hearing, said in describing her son’s lifeless body. She called 911.

At the time, Carpenter and Forsyth lived together with her son in a mobile home in the 1900 block of Misner Road.

Paramedics rushed the child to the Williamsport Regional Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead just before 10 a.m.

An autopsy performed the next day at the Lehigh Valley Hospital revealed that Ky’Mani died of “multiple blunt force trauma injuries,” Sgt. Christopher Kriner testified on the stand as he read parts of the multiple-page autopsy report.

Kriner, the lead investigator in the case, filed the criminal charges against Forsyth.

Investigators determined that the toddler was solely under the care of Forsyth and Carpenter in the last 24 hours of his life.

Also testifying at the hearing was Dr. Pat Bruno, a pediatrician at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, and a board-certified expert on child abuse.

He had already extensively reviewed the autopsy report that was prepared by Dr. B.K. Bollinger, a forensic pathologist with Forensic Pathology Associates Inc. in Allentown.

In a telephone conference call, Bruno testified through the phone’s speaker so everyone in the court room could hear him. He also could hear questions given by the prosecution and defense attorneys.

Bruno testified that he believed KyMani’s “devastating injuries occurred in a relatively short period of time before his demise.”

The physician went on to say that the toddler’s fatal injuries likely happened “within 12 hours of his death.”

On the stand, Carpenter testified that she did not cause her son’s injuries. She also said that she never saw Forsyth strike the child.

Forsyth was arraigned on Jan. 7 on felony charges of murder of the third degree, involuntary manslaughter, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and one misdemeanor count of recklessly endangering. He was recommitted to the Lycoming County Prison on no bail.

Forsyth and Carpenter remained together until last fall when their relationship soured after Forsyth was arrested on October 4 on charges of access device fraud and related offenses in which Carpenter was the alleged victim, Kriner said. He was jailed in lieu of $35,000 bail. Forsyth was held for court on those charges days later.

Following Solomon’s ruling Wednesday, Forsyth will face further court action on the manslaughter-related charges.