Alisha Parker (Allegheny County Jail) and the 3-month-old she allegedly beat to death (WTAE screenshot)
A 26-year-old mother in Pennsylvania has been arrested for allegedly killing her 3-month-old son, beating the child to death and then blaming the fatal injuries on her 3-year-old daughter, saying the toddler was jealous of the newborn.
Alisha Parker was taken into custody on Sunday and charged with one count of criminal homicide and one count of endangering the welfare of a child, authorities announced.
According to a press release from the Allegheny County Police Department, officers with Duquesne Police responded to a home at about 1:57 a.m. on Sunday in the 300 block of Hemlock Alley in regards to a report about an unresponsive male infant. Upon arriving at the scene, first responders said they immediately began to perform CPR on the victim and rushed him to a hospital, where he died.
Parker reportedly told police her toddler daughter fatally injured the infant, imploring authorities to “evaluate” her.
“If there’s anything that happened out of the ordinary, my 3-year-old child did it and ya’ll need to do something about that,” she told detectives, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. “She’s the last person to see him alive and she’s been doing little jealousy, little things — evaluate that girl.”
According to the affidavit, Parker and her two kids had recently moved in with Parker’s cousin and the cousin’s 18-month-old child before the victim’s death.
The cousin reportedly told police that she left the house to go to work at about 5 that evening and got home at about 1 the following morning, having called Parker several times to ask her to check on her 18-month-old. The cousin said at about 11:20 p.m., she called Parker and heard the victim crying in the background.
Parker reportedly responded that the children were both doing fine and that she was drinking alcohol.
When the cousin arrived back at the home, she reportedly told police she checked on her child and then had a drink downstairs with Parker, who started vomiting soon after. The cousin told police she had a “bad feeling” about the situation and decided to check on Parker’s two kids.
The cousin reportedly started searching for the infant, who was not in his crib and then found him not breathing and “stiff to the touch and purple in color” between his older sister and the wall air-conditioning unit.
During questioning, Parker reportedly said she immediately thought her daughter harmed the infant.
“When he was found, he was found on the bed with her, so I’m like, ‘Did you grab him and try to put him on the bed with you?’ Like what was going on?” she reportedly told police.
Parker then allegedly said her daughter would “have to go” if she had harmed the victim.
“(The victim) was smiling before he went to bed, and that’s why I feel like that little (expletive) girl had something to do with it,” she said. “I’m sorry to say, that’s my kid and all, but if she did something to my son, she gotta go.”
She also said, “If there’s anything that happened out of the ordinary, my 3-year-old child did it and ya’ll need to do something about that,” The Patriot-News reported.
As she left the interview with police, Parker allegedly stated, “Guess what, I’m gonna go home and [expletive] drink more.”
Police said an autopsy determined that the child’s injuries “were inflicted by an adult” and could not have been done by her daughter. Following the release of the autopsy report, Parker was taken into custody and charged with her son’s death.
She is being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond awaiting her arraignment.
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