Police have been sweeping up women left and right for unfathomable offenses. the most disturbing part, is that many of these offenses were allegedly committed against their own children - majority of which hadn’t even been potty-trained yet.
According to the Statista Research Department’s report, mother’s committing crimes against their children isn’t an oddity in the United States. Don’t believe us? Consider the numbers. About 311 children died in 2021 due to abuse from both parents and 408 died from abuse or maltreatment from their mothers alone. The details of these cases are quite grim.
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One mother was accused of leaving her children home to go try her luck at the casino. Another mother was accused of “accidentally” placing her infant to sleep in a hot oven. Another mother was accused of selling her daughter off to a spiritual doctor who planned to harvest her for her… just keep scrolling to read the rest.
Below are 30 cases where mothers were charged with the murder, abuse or neglect of their children. Beware: the contents of this story are disturbing.
Mysterious Fractures
The 5-month-old daughter of 32-year-old Maya Dennis was rushed to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center with “multiple skull fractures, brain bleeds, a fractured leg and other life-threatening ailments,” per the Harford County Sheriff’s Department. She succumbed to her injuries on New Year’s Eve.
Due to her condition, police were contacted by Child Protective Services and an investigation was launched into her death. WBAL-TV reported the babe had just left the NICU last week having been there since she was born. The only other person to be around the child besides her mother was a man prosecutors said was at Dennis’ home just before the baby was rushed to the hospital. Prosecutors determined because Dennis was the sole caretaker of the child when the injuries were inflicted and “made statements indicating she was responsible for the now fatal injuries,” she deserved to be held accountable.
Dennis was charged with first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. It’s still unclear how the baby girl died. Though, prosecutors argue the injuries were not a simple “accident” considering the extent of them.
Nearly Swept Away
Shamika Mitchell was visiting Daytona Beach with her son in November 2023. The office of the state attorney for the Seventh Judicial Circuit said surveillance footage located Mitchell walking down the stairs to the beach with the baby in her arms, just before midnight. However, after five minutes, Mitchell was seen leaving the beach but without the child.
Prosecutors said a woman found the toddler an hour after his mother disappeared. Authorities say the woman saw the baby on all fours, partially buried in the sand as waves crashed over his head in the dark. By the time paramedics arrived, the baby was unresponsive with shallow breath and an elevated pulse, per WESH’s report. He was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he recovered from the conditions.
As for his mother, police got to her before the child was even found, the report says. A guard peeped her walking empty handed from the beach. She originally told officers she dropped the child off with his father at a 7-Eleven. However, police found the father was all the way back in Detroit. Mitchell was charged with aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child. She was found guilty by a trial jury.
Overdose
Retta Cruse, 36, was currently serving a life sentence for the 2021 killing of her two daughters. Back then, Phoenix police responded to her home after one of the girl’s fathers, Michael Coleman, called 911 to report finding the children unresponsive. Police said one they walked inside the home, they found 9-year-old Aleyah and 4-year-old Royal deceased in a bed. According to ABC 15’s report, police determined Cruse fed them both prescription and over-the-counter medications to purposely cause the two to suffer an overdose.
At the time of the incident, Cruse was still inside the home, police said. However, they said she was barricaded in her bedroom, unconscious on the bed with self-inflicted knife wounds on her body. According to court documents, Cruse admitted to the killings, claiming her motive was bitterness behind losing a custody battle for her eldest child, via 12 News. She also allegedly told police she premeditated a plan to kill both herself and her children, per AZ Central’s report.
Cruse pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder. She was sentenced to two life sentences behind bars in 2022 and booked into the Arizona Department of Corrections. However, the department issued a notice last month saying she died by suicide Feb. 21.
Casino Trip at a Cost
Dineshia Yates, 26, entered a guilty plea to charges related to a February 2024 incident. The East Baton Rouge Parish Sheriff’s Office say they responded to a home on O’Neal Lane after receiving a report of an unresponsive 3-year-old toddler. The girl was identified as Yates’ daughter, Blessing Buckles, per WAFB. Officers said the 911 caller was a child, who said there were no adults home. However, when the police arrived on the scene, Yates along with her friend Terica Scott were just pulling into the driveway, the report says.
The two told police they were coming back from the casino. Meanwhile, inside the home, the report says deputies found eight children between the ages of 11 months to 12 years — all of whom were left unattended. Police discovered Yates and her children had been staying with Scott.
Police claim Scott’s 10-year-old son and 12-year-old nephew had used their time home alone to brutally beat the 3-year-old girl. Blessing was rushed to the hospital with bruises and abrasions to her face and body which were consistent with blunt force trauma, per WAFB. The toddler was also said to have suffered a brain bleed. She died from her injuries two days after the incident. Both Yates and Scott were slammed with principal to second-degree murder and principal to simple battery. Scott’s boys were also arrested and booked into the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Detention Center for the same charges.
Trafficked for Skin, Eyes
Joshlin Smith went missing from outside her home in Saldanha Bay near Cape Town, South Africa, in February of 2024, per BBC’s report. However, the investigation into her vanishing revealed that this wasn’t a case of a child wandering off and ending up in the wrong hands. Police suspected she was sold.
Smith was eventually arrested in connection to her daughter’s disappearance. Smith was taken to trial on kidnapping and trafficking charges in March. Witness testimonies revealed a horrifying suggestion on what happened to Joshlin. A local pastor testified that back in 2023, Smith had talks of selling her kids for 20,000 rand a pop ($1,100 in USD), per BBC. The report also says Joshlin’s teacher took the stand, claiming Smith told her as community members searched restlessly for the girl, Joshlin was already “on a ship, inside a container” and “on her way to West Africa.”
In the most startling testimony, Lourentia Lombaard, Smith’s neighbor, claimed Smith told her she’d done “something silly” and sold the girl to a traditional healer or “sangoma” who wanted her for her eyes and skin, per BBC. The report says these healers are known for making traditional “cures” and crafting “good luck charms” from bodily parts.
On Friday, May 2, after these damning testimonies, a jury found the mother guilty of her charges. A jury also convicted Appollis, Smith’s boyfriend, and their friend Steveno van Rhyn, on the same charges in connection to Joshlin’s disappearance.
Adoption Gone Wrong
Timmeka Eggleton, 31, was accused of murdering her 3-year-old son, Curtis, just days after gaining custody of him again. A FOX 8 report says the boy was originally in foster care with a couple who planned to adopt him. However, once Eggleton was deemed mentally able to be a full-time mother again, she gained custody of Curtis.
Four months later, he was found unconscious in a stroller abandoned in a Family Dollar near Cleveland. A medical examiner ruled he died from blunt force trauma. Eggleton pleaded guilt to two counts of murder, one count of felonious assault and one count of endangering children.
Found in a Fireplace
An Ohio mother, 28-year-old Alexus Nelson, pleaded guilty to the murder of her 5-year-old daughter, Maha. The girl’s grandmother called the police to do a welfare check on the toddler. However, when authorities contacted Nelson, she told them she gave the girl up for adoption. Though, records did not reflect that. The Aurora Police Department said they searched Nelson’s home and found the girl’s remains both in a closet and the fireplace.
Nelson was sentenced to 84 years in prison on charges of second-degree murder, tampering with a deceased body and attempting to influence a public servant.
Hit-And-Run
Aaliyah Ross, 27, is accused of hitting her 1-year-old daughter with her car following an argument with her boyfriend. Police said Ross put her other two small children in the back of her car while her boyfriend stood in front of the vehicle while holding their 1-year-old.
Ross then allegedly accelerated toward the two, running them both over. Then, she took the baby back to their home and left him alone before driving off again. Ross has been charged with aggravated child abuse, aggravated battery, negligent child abuse, domestic battery and leaving the scene of a crash with property damage.
Hidden in The Freezer
Detroit mother Azuradee France, 33, confessed to physically abusing her 3-year-old son, Chayse, for months ahead of his death. Ultimately, the boy, who was blind, died after France kicked him in the chest and whipped him for not eating his food, police say.
France then tried to hide his body in the freezer in her basement to avoid law enforcement removing her other two kids from her custody. However, an anonymous tip led police to search her property and she was charged with second-degree murder. She pleaded guilty to the charge.
Fentanyl Fatality
Jestice James, 22, was arrested after calling 911 to report her 3-year-old twin boys were unresponsive. After two days in the hospital, they were pronounced dead. The LAPD found the two ingested or were exposed to an unknown substance which prosecutors allege was fentanyl.
James was arrested the evening her boys were rushed to the hospital and charged with two counts of murder, child abuse and child endangerment.
Interstate Abandonment
Aaliyah Jack, 25, was accused of letting both her 4-year-old and 1-year-old boys to die. The eldest was found dead in a Louisiana lake near Texas. Jack was then found by police in Mississippi and her toddler was found the following day crawling along an interstate in the midst of harsh hurricane weather, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Jack was charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to a juvenile as well as failure to report a missing juvenile. Her bail was set at $9.1 million.
Voodoo Spell
Police allege Joanna Zephir, an Osceola County, Fla, mother, made her 3-year-old and 8-year-old daughters drink bleach in front of a church. Zephir supposedly told investigators she was placed under a voodoo spell by her husband who police allege she stabbed hours before the bleach incident, per WKMG Orlando. The Osceola sheriff said she had plans to kill herself as well after telling her family she killed her daughters.
The 8-year-old ended up surviving her injuries. However, her 3-year-old sister was died by strangulation, according to the medical examiner. Zephir was charged with first-degree murder with a weapon and may face the death penalty.
Kidnapping?
Nashville police issued an endangered child alert for 3-year-old Zy-Arye Wylie. Police said his biological mother, Alandris Griffin, took him from his grandmother’s house after a custody dispute, per WKRN. Surveillance video showed Griffin allegedly throwing the grandmother from the car and dragging her as she held onto the door.
Police then confirmed the boy was found safe in Florida. Griffin was taken into custody but it’s unclear what charges she’s facing or where she’s being held.
Narcan-Induced Recovery
Fort Wayne medics responded to a 911 call reporting a baby having trouble breathing, per WIBC. Medics found the baby’s eyes rolling to the back of his head and suspected a possible overdose. They administered a dose of Narcan and the child has since recovered in the hospital.
However, Kayla Devreaz’s home was searched by Fort Wayne police who found traces of cocaine and fentanyl in her apartment. She’s been charged with child neglect.
Apocalypse Paranoia
Danielle Johnson, 34, died in a car wreck near Redondo Beach in Los Angeles, according to the city police. However, as police investigated her death, they found that moments before she had thrown her infant and 9-year-old daughter from the vehicle onto the highway and also stabbed her boyfriend before fleeing her home. Only her 9-year-old daughter survived the incident. A concerning slew of social media posts suggest she was experiencing extreme paranoia around the April 8th total solar eclipse.
Taking the Wheel
St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department said in a statement around 4 a.m. Monday morning, Latonya Mayes-Gale’s 8-year-old son was seen driving a car in the wrong direction of traffic. Mayes-Gale was reportedly too drunk to drive and asked her son to take the wheel, per NBC News. She was found in the back seat with her other 3-year-old son when a security guard managed to get the boy to stop the vehicle.
Mayes-Gale is charged with two counts of felony child engagement.
A Fatal Fire
Brandi Sturdivant was charged with three counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of her 4-year-old and 1-year-old twins. Police claim she left home the morning of Dec. 12, 2022 and returned to find her house engulfed in flames.
Sturdivant told investigators she believed the fire sparked from a stove in the living room used to heat the home instead of the baseboard heater, via My FOX 8. She also admitted to repeatedly leaving the children home alone as she went out at night.
A Grave Mistake
Mariah Thomas, 26, was arrested after her child was found unresponsive in her home. Kansas City authorities allege her grandfather smelled smoke inside the home and found Thomas’ child not breathing in her crib. They said the child was covered with burns and damaged clothing that looked melted.
Thomas told investigators she accidentally placed the baby in the oven instead of the crib for a nap. She is charged with first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.
A Foul Social Media Stunt
Jasmine Moss, 30, ran a hair removal business out of her home. Moss was reported to authorities after her 5-year-old was allegedly seen in a video on social media applying hot wax to the nude, private areas of multiple adult women.
In the social media post, Moss wrote that her daughter waxed over 24 clients in a single day. She was charged with child neglect after a controversial social media post.
Walmart Welfare Check
A Walmart employee captured 26-year-old Kambria Darby strolling around the freezer section with her shivering child who was barely clothed. The employee called the police to report the concern, and Darby was seen in the video arguing that she had the police called on her twice already.
The police arrested Darby in the parking lot. She was charged with child neglect.
A Fatal Neglect
Phoenix police arrested Sara Harris after her mother called 911 to report an unresponsive infant. Police said they found a 1-month-old lying limp on the mattress in the living room. Harris told investigators the infant was being fussy and she tried to use children’s NyQuil and a bit of food to soothe him. Surveillance footage revealed she left the baby alone for two days after.
Harris was charged with child abuse and second-degree murder.
A 1999 Cold Case
In February 1999, police discovered the remains of 6-year-old William DaShawn Hamilton in the woody area near a cemetery. It wasn’t until 2020 that the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children rendered digital images of his face.
Police then received a tip from the boy’s old neighbor which eventually led them to believe his mother, Teresa Black, was involved in his death.
Black told investigators she and her son were unsheltered at the time of his death. She said she gave him cold medicine the night before he died because she believed he was sick and took him to the cemetery to sleep. When she woke up, she said she realized he was deceased and fled.
Black was charged with felony murder, cruelty to children, aggravated assault and concealing the death of another. However, a Dekalb County jury acquitted her of all charges except concealing the death of another.
A Child’s 911 Call
Miami-Dade police responded to the call of a 6-year-old boy who claimed his mother, Demetria Spencer, left him and his 2-year-old brother home alone without food and electricity. When they arrived at the home, the children looked like they hadn’t been bathed and the home was filthy. Spencer was located nearly eight hours later.
She was charged with two counts of child neglect causing no great bodily harm.
When “Missing” Became “Murdered”
Nakira Griner, 28, reported her 2-year-old son Daniel missing in 2019, claiming he’d been abducted while she walked to a store in Bridgeton, N.J. However, the police bloodhounds used to embark on the search tracked the baby’s scent to Griner’s backyard. The boy’s autopsy revealed blunt force trauma resulting in his skull being broken in 74 pieces. His remains were also burnt.
Griner confessed to assaulting her son, placing his body in the oven and dismembering him before burying him in the backyard. Griner was found guilty of first-degree murder, desecration of human remains, child endangerment, evidence tampering and false public alarm.
A Nationally Debated Miscarriage
Brittany Watts, 33, was only 22 weeks along in her pregnancy when she suddenly felt a contraction while using the bathroom. Watts told the Warren Police Department she felt the infant passing and then a “big splash.”
When police responded to her call, they said the infant’s remains were stuck in the toilet. Prosecutors accused Watts of trying to plunge her child down the drain. However, a jury declined to indict Watts on criminal charges in connection to her miscarriage.
The Child in the Suitcase
After months on the run, Dejuane Anderson was arrested in March in connection to the death of her 5-year-old-son Cairo, whose remains were found in a suitcase in 2022.
Anderson’s partner, Dawn Coleman, told police she found Anderson lying on top of the boy while he was face down on the bed. Authorities also discovered a series of concerning social media posts from Anderson suggesting she premeditated the killing because her son was “trying to kill her” and had been possessed by a “powerful demonic force.”
Anderson faces charges of murder, neglect of a dependent resulting in death and obstruction of justice.
A Tortured Adopted Teen
Felicia Adams-Franks and Jesse Franks were accused of brutally torturing their adopted son, 15-year-old Karreon Franks, to death. During the trial for the couple, it was revealed that Karreon had a developmental delay, autism and blindness, and was nonverbal. He also struggled to keep food down but police say his parents kept food from him.
On several occasions, Karreon was locked in a room, hit with a paddle or electrical cord. He eventually died of starvation. The Franks were found guilty of homicide by abuse and second-degree murder. Each of them were sentenced to up to 35 years in prison, per KOIN.
10 Days Alone
Kristel Candelario, 32, was sentenced to life in prison for aggravated murder and child endangerment in the death of 16-month-old Jailyn. According to the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office, from June 6 to June 16, 2023, Candelario left the baby unattended while she traveled to Detroit and Puerto Rico.
Jailyn was found in her Pack-N-Play covered in soiled blankets. The county medical examiner said she died of starvation and severe dehydration from pediatric neglect, per NBC News.
Case of Co-Sleeping
Aaliyah Lykins was charged with reckless homicide and neglect of a dependent. Police say she was breastfeeding her 2-week-old daughter and fell asleep. An affidavit states when she woke up, her daughter went into cardiac arrest. The baby was pronounced dead at the hospital.
Police said in court documents that this was not the first time an incident like this happened: Lykins’ 2-month-old son died during a co-sleeping incident two years ago, court documents said.
A Fateful Drop
Persia Nelson Nelson is alleged to have dropped 10-month-old Halo Branton down an 8-foot pipe at the General Electric campus in Schenectady, New York. She was charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child, per News10.
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