GIG HARBOR, Wash. - A 37-year-old father has been arrested and charged with second-degree murder in connection with the death of his 3-week-old baby daughter.

The man, identified as Bonifacio Velasco Velarde, was booked into Pierce County Jail late Wednesday and pleaded not guilty at a court hearing Thursday afternoon.

Court records say the baby girl, Ava Velarde, was brought to Mary Bridge Children's Hospital on May 18 with critical injuries that later were determined not to be accidental. The little girl died three days later without ever regaining consciousness.

According to charging documents, medics were called to the baby's home, in the 11700 block of 15th Avenue Court Northwest in Gig Harbor, after receiving a 911 call from Velarde. He told dispatchers that the baby was not breathing, not conscious and very pale.

The baby's mother later told investigators that the father had taken the baby out of the bedroom and she then heard the little girl begin to cry very loudly, according the charging documents.

Several minutes later, Velarde brought the baby back into the bedroom. The mother could see that the baby was very cold and that she had begun to turn purple. She yelled at the father to call 911, but it took him some time to do so.

According to court documents, the father told investigators that the girl's injuries had happened while the baby was in his care, but he refused to explain how they were caused.

An autopsy later determined that the baby died of cranial cerebral trauma that may have been caused by having her skull squeezed or from blunt force impact, court papers said.

The girl's father surrendered to deputies on Wednesday evening and booked into jail.

Bail was set at $1 million Thursday by Pierce County Superior Court Judge Vicki L. Hogan after prosecutors argued that Velarde was a flight risk who might attempt the flee to his original home of Manila, in the Philippines.

According to court documents, the little girl was born April 29 and died on May 21.