Background: A wooded area in Washington, Conn., where Sadie Fleming”s baby son Hudson was found dead (Google Maps). Inset: Sadie Fleming (Connecticut State Police).
A Connecticut woman who triggered a Silver Alert after she and her 1-month-old baby went missing is now charged in the infant’s murder.
Sadie Fleming, 27, was charged with murder after Connecticut State Police said that she drowned her 1-month-old son Hudson Fleming in June. According to an arrest warrant reviewed by Law&Crime, Fleming was reportedly having troubling symptoms the night before she and Hudson went missing, including an episode during which she believed “people were after her.”
An unnamed woman who was living with Fleming and her baby said that she last saw the new mother and child turning in for the night at around midnight on June 8. The next morning, they were both gone.
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The woman, whose name and relationship to Fleming were redacted in the arrest warrant, told police that Fleming had a history of psychiatric issues and had just started a new medication the day before she and Hudson went missing. The information prompted police to issue a Silver Alert for Fleming and Hudson, and it did not take long before someone spotted a woman matching Fleming’s description.
According to the warrant, an unidentified woman called 911 to report that her daughter saw someone who looked like Fleming walking alone in her neighborhood in Washington, a rural town some 35 miles northwest of New Haven. State troopers responded to the scene and found Fleming on Blackville Road. She was reportedly “soaking wet and her mental status appeared to be altered.” Fleming was asked where her baby was, and she reportedly responded, “What baby?”
Police who encountered Fleming said that she seemed to be “extremely paranoid and panicked,” and “did not know her own name” or where she was. Fleming eventually calmed down, but then became “unresponsive” and was taken to the hospital.
At the same time, a search was happening nearby for Hudson, whose lifeless body was found in a “small body of water.” Found near Hudson’s body was an infant carrier and a vape pen, both of which were identified as belonging to Fleming. An autopsy concluded that his cause of death was drowning.
When Fleming was at the hospital, the woman who reported her missing spoke with detectives and detailed Fleming’s history of mental health issues, which dated back to 2019. The woman told detectives that on the night of June 7, Fleming took her “nighttime meds,” including a new medication, at around 8:30 p.m. and got Hudson ready for bed between 11:30 p.m. and midnight.
According to police, Fleming told the woman while she was in the hospital that in the early hours of June 8, she purportedly hid in a closet with Hudson because she thought “people were after her.” Fleming also described running through “the woods, the river, and a field” and cutting her hands on barbed wire. She also said of Hudson, “He’s gone, I’ve lost him.”
When police questioned Fleming, she told them a similar story, adding that the people who were purportedly after her were also “trying to kill her.” She told police that days earlier, she began having thoughts that “Illuminati people” were trying to “get” her.
Police described Fleming’s recent medical history since Hudson’s birth in late April, including a list of medications for a medical condition that was redacted from the document. Notes about Fleming’s medical history included “concerns with the [Department of Children and Families] investigation” and “significant concern with Hudson’s father.”
On June 2, Fleming requested a telehealth appointment after reporting that she was “having some paranoia again, feeling manic, irritable.” Her most recent appointment was on June 6, two days before she and Hudson were reported missing. According to the warrant, Fleming had someone else speak to the clinician on her behalf because she “did not feel like talking.” She agreed to an in-person appointment on June 9.
Fleming obtained an attorney, who told police in July that she would not speak to police. After the autopsy on Hudson determined his manner of death to be homicide, police obtained a warrant for Fleming’s arrest.
Fleming was taken into custody by police on Wednesday and appeared in court the same day, charged with murder and risk of injury to a child. Her bond was set at $5 million, and her next court date was scheduled for Nov. 7.
