Sad updates in the case of the mother found pushing her dead child on a swing.
UPDATE:
The three-year-old boy who died in a playground swing was left there for two days prior to being discovered.
The boy passed away from dehydration and hypothermia, a spokesperson for the local police said.
According to the Baltimore Sun, the mother placed the boy in the swing alive on May 20. She was found pushing his body two days later.
Temperatures overnight during that period reached 10 degrees Celsius.
The death was ruled a homicide by the The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.
Mamamia previously reported…
The mother who was found pushing her dead three-year-old son on a swing has been identified as 24-year-old Romechia Simms — and the boy’s father has claimed he sought custody of the little boy amid concerns about Simms’ suspected mental illness.
Police believe Simms had been pushing her son on the swing throughout the night at the Wills Memorial Park in Maryland, about 55 kilometres south of Washington DC, until police officers intervened at about 7am on Friday morning.
The boy’s father, James Lee, told NBC Washington that he warned a judge about Simms’ possible mental illness, and had sought sole custody of the little boy on those grounds.
But, he says, the judge disagreed.
“He deemed her, at that moment, a fit parent,” Mr Lee told NBC. “I’m not saying she isn’t, but in this situation, he just didn’t pay attention to the signs.”
Simms has not been charged with any crime, but was taken to hospital for medical tests on Friday.
Simms’ mother Vontasha says she believes her 24-year-old daughter, Romechia, suffered a mental breakdown before officers discovered her.
“You know, I just believe she had some type of mental illness, some type of mental break that came upon her where she wasn’t able to get herself out of that situation,” she said.
She insists her daughter is innocent, telling WUSA: “[Romechia] would never harm my grandson in any type of way.”
The young mother had no permanent place to live and had been staying at a nearby hotel, Vontasha Simms said.
She had also been seeking help for a recently diagnosed mental illness.
“I don’t want people to look down upon her. I want us to use the situation as an opportunity to grow,” Vontasha Simms told WUSA9 of her daughter.
“If you suffer from mental health issues you need help,” she added. “Don’t be afraid to reach out there to somebody.”
No cause of the boy’s death has been released, although an autopsy was completed on Monday. There were no signs of physical injury, according to police.
A spokesperson from the Charles County Sheriff’s Office, Diane Richardson said after the discovery, “we have a lot of work to do to try to figure out what happened to this child.
“At about 7 am we received a call in reference to a woman pushing a toddler in a swing for an unusual period of time. The caller said the woman had possibly been in the park since yesterday.
“There were no obvious signs of trauma to the toddler. They [the officers] had to cut the chains to get the child out of the swing.”
Police discovered the mother and dead child at 7am on Friday after being called a few minutes earlier by a witness.
Other witnesses told the police they saw the mother and child at the park the previous day. Police do not know whether the mother left the park at all or if she stayed there continuously.
“She was seen there (yesterday), and we don’t know if she ever left,” Richardson said.
The deputy wanted to start performing CPR, but realized the child had been dead for several hours.
“It’s a very sad situation,” Richardson said.
A GoFundMe page has been set up to give the boy’s body a ‘proper homecoming.’
Have you checked out today’s headlines?
Sunday’s news in under five minutes.
Tony Abbott rules out same sex marriage referendum.
Is there always a reason – or could your kid just be a little sh*t?
Top Comments
I wonder why the judge saw fit not to let the father have custody. If she was living in a hotel at the time was he also in a similar situation or more stable? If the grandmother knew she had metal health issues why didn't she feel the need to watch her daughter a little closer? It's a bad situation all around, and maybe hindsight really is 20/20. But this article leaves me wondering about the details.
I find the difference in tone and opinion by MammaMia interesting when you compare this story and Belle Gibson's story. Both have caused some form of harm. Both people in question are clearly experiencing a form of mental illness. One was seen sympathetically. One was not. We still have a long way to come with understanding and responding to mental illness in the media.
Belle Gibson is a sycophant preditor who deliberately targeted dying cancer sufferers!! She is NOT a victim!!! No comparison here!!
Belle Gibson cynically and over a very long period of time profited from the misery of others and lied blandly about her own health. The woman in this article clearly had some sort of unimaginably dreadful psychotic break, requiring hospitalisation. How are the two even slightly comparable? Sociopaths never lose touch with reality, thus Belle Gibson is entirely responsible for her opportunistic crimes.