Chelsea Cooley, left, admitted to killing a 3-year-old Travis Young Jr., right, by stuffing baby wipes down his throat on May 28, 2022, in Bedford County, Penn. (Cooley: Bedford County Jail; Travis: Obituary)
A Pennsylvania judge on Monday sentenced a woman to 40 to 80 years in prison for strangling a 3-year-old boy and stuffing baby wipes so far down his throat medics needed forceps to remove them.
Chelsea R. Cooley, 33, pleaded guilty third-degree murder, strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child in the 2022 death of Travis Young Jr. Cooley was watching Travis, her boyfriend’s son, along with other children at the time of his death at their Bedford County home.
According to the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Office, a neighbor on May 28, 2022, heard screaming and a female voice yell “shut up” around the time Travis suffered his injuries. Cooley took a photo of the boy who appeared to be unconscious and injured at 8:41 p.m. yet waited until 9:07 p.m. to call 911. She was then hesitant to follow the dispatcher’s instructions to help the child, prosecutors said.
During Monday’s sentencing, Cooley’s lawyer relayed to the judge her request to leave the courtroom during victim impact statements. But the judge wasn’t having it.
“She’s going to stay there,” Judge Travis Livengood said, according to the Bedford Gazette.
Prosecutors read a statement from the boy’s father, Travis Young Sr., who was at work at the time of his son’s death. He said Cooley betrayed his trust and he could never forgive her.
“The [worst] is slowly forgetting the sound of his voice,” he reportedly said. “I hope he haunts you every single second of your life.”
Travis’ mother, Rachel Reuter, also spoke, saying the boy they called “Junior” was her “little best friend.”
“I lost the honor of being able to watch him grow,” she reportedly said.
Livengood noted that despite her asking to leave the courtroom, “she had no remorse whatsoever,” the Gazette reported.
“You have earned every single day of the 40 to 80 years you are going to get,” he reportedly told Cooley.
Attorney General Michelle Henry in a statement said the facts of the case were “horrific.”
“This defendant was responsible for caring for this child, and instead she did the unthinkable. She brutally murdered him, a defenseless and innocent three-year-old child,” she said.
As Law&Crime previously reported, troopers with the Pennsylvania State Police in Bedford at approximately 9:16 p.m. on May 28, 2022, responded to the home and the hospital after it was reported that the child had choked on baby wipes.
After arriving at UPMC Bedford, the child was subsequently airlifted to UPMC Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Travis succumbed to his injuries and was pronounced dead at approximately 4 p.m. on May 29, 2022.
A medical examiner performed an autopsy and determined that the child’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was “manual strangulation and asphyxiation due to airway obstruction,” per the police report.
In an interview with investigators at the hospital that evening, an arrest report obtained by local NBC affiliate WJAC said, Cooley emphasized repeatedly that Travis had behavioral issues. She allegedly said he had thrown “a temper tantrum” and refused to eat his lunch earlier in the day. Cooley allegedly claimed that she put the boy down to sleep in his room at approximately 7:30 p.m., then checked on him at approximately an hour later. She said the boy stopped breathing and had “something stuck in his throat, which appeared to be a wet wipe,” the report added.
Authorities said, however, that the only wet wipes in the home were stored in the bathroom, not in the boy’s bedroom.
EMS personnel reportedly clarified that medics had to remove four wet wipes from the victim’s throat, several of which were reportedly “soiled with blood.” Noting that the four wipes were tightly “packed together,” a medic reportedly told investigators that he “did not believe that the child would have been able to put the wipes down his own throat.”
The victim reportedly also showed “signs of petechia” on his neck — which are spots that appear as a result of bleeding — and “extensive bruising” on his chest and neck. Medics also reportedly found feces on one of the victim’s hands but noted that he was wearing a clean diaper.
In a follow-up interview, Cooley reportedly again reiterated that the victim had been acting out, telling police he needed to be put in a “group home.” When asked about why she took as long as she did to call for help after finding the boy not breathing, Cooley allegedly said that her phone was “acting up.” The interviewing trooper reportedly noted that Cooley had sustained what appeared to be bite marks on her hands.
Investigators searched Cooley’s home and said they found a number of baby wipes that were allegedly covered in feces and others covered in blood.
According to his obituary, Travis loved spending time with his family.
“Travis loved his chocolate, and enjoyed playing outside with his cars, cuddling while watching TV; especially his favorite cartoon P.J. Masks,” the obit said.
Jerry Lambe contributed to this report.
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