NORTH FORSYTH — A 25-year-old Butts County man has been indicted on several charges in connection with the February beating death of a 3-year-old boy north Forsyth boy.

A Forsyth County grand jury last week indicted Christopher Everett Truett on one count each of murder, felony murder aggravated battery and cruelty to children in the first degree.

On Feb. 25, Truett was reportedly babysitting Wyatt Pruitt, the son of his girlfriend, Dawn Shutts, at a home on Roseman Landing in the Bridgetowne subdivision.

Pruitt was found about 11:30 a.m. lying unresponsive on the couch in the living room of the home where he lived with his mother.

According to the grand jury’s findings, Truett struck caused Pruitt’s death “by striking him on and about the abdomen.”

On the count of felony murder, the grand jury’s report stated that Truett did cause the death of the child “by rendering his liver useless.” That same explanation was noted on the aggravated battery charge.

As for the count of cruelty to children, the report noted that Truett did maliciously cause the child “cruel and excessive physical pain by causing bruises to his head, abdomen, hand and testicle.”

At the time of Truett’s arrest, Forsyth County Sheriff Duane Piper said Pruitt’s death had been the result of “blunt force trauma severe enough to cause bruising in his little body from the front that extended all the way back to his spinal column.”

There had reportedly been some communication between Shutts, who was at work, and Truett prior to that time. When Shutts returned home, she had Truett call 911 and began administering CPR to her son.

The boy was pronounced dead about 11:45 a.m. at Northside Hospital-Forsyth, according to the sheriff’s office.

It was during this time that Truett reportedly ran into some woods near the subdivision, which is off Hwy. 369 and just west of Ga. 400. He was arrested a couple of hours later after a search that involved the sheriff’s SWAT team.

Piper has said the couple met on the Internet and had been communicating online until about three weeks earlier, when they began dating in person.

According to authorities, Truett has prior convictions for burglary and theft by receiving, both from 2007 in Butts County, which is southeast of Atlanta.