Dunlap Told Police Which Lighter He Used, Northville Detective Says

The probable cause hearing for Dylan James Dunlap, a Northville Township man facing child abuse charges, continued Thursday afternoon at 35th District Court.

Dunlap, 19, faces multiple charges, one of them being torture, which carries a potential sentence of life in prison. Dunlap was left in charge of a toddler with his girlfriend, who is the child's aunt, May 5 and 6 at an apartment on Northridge Drive in Northville Township.

The toddler's mother and the responding Northville Township police officer testified last week describing bruises, burns and a bite mark on the child's body. Judge James A. Plakas heard from three more witnesses at this second hearing — Northville Township detectives Mike Burrough and Jonathon Huerta and Sergeant Samantha Bowlin. 

Burrough, who assisted in the investigation, said he spoke to Dunlap May 7 while he was in custody to go over a consent to search form, and Dunlap gave him his consent to search his apartment. Based on Huerta's questioning of Dunlap, during which Dunlap said the burns on the boy's body were from a lighter, Burrough said he wanted to retrieve the lighter from the apartment. 

"When I asked him which lighter he used, he said a black one," he said.

He searched the apartment, he said, and found two black lighters. He said there were several other lighters around the apartment in the living room and kitchen. 

Plakas said the hearing will continue with more witness testimony on Monday at 35th District Court.