A 24-year old mother from Charles County, Maryland, has been indicted on charges of first-degree child abuse, neglect and manslaughter after she was found four months ago pushing a dead toddler on a swing.
In May, Romechia Simms was found with 3-year-old Ji'Aire Donnell Lee at a park in La Plata, Md. he was place on the swing on the morning of May 20 and remained there until he was found dead two days later. Authorities believe Simms was likely pushing him all night, according to the Washington Post.
Authorities were first tipped off about the incident when an onlooker contacted them when he or she saw Simms pushing the child for hours on end in Wills Memorial Park.
Upon arriving on the scene, officers went to remove the boy from the swing and give him first aid, but it became "instantaneously clear the child was dead," county sheriff's office spokeswoman Diane Richardson said, reported ABC News.
Since Lee had no signs of trauma to his body, an autopsy had to be performed. In the meantime, Simms was taken to a hospital for an evaluation.
A medical examiner later ruled the boy died of dehydration and low body temperature, caused by weather which Richardson described as "rather chilly", noting that it drizzled all night.
In light of this discovery, authorities ruled the death a homicide and charged Simms with manslaughter, first-degree child abuse and child neglect, according to USA Today.
During the investigation, it was revealed by Simm's family that she suffered from some mental illness, including depression and bipolar disorder. A fact that her mother, Vontasha Simms, mentioned when talking about the charges brought against her daughter.
"I feel like those are totally the wrong charges," Vontasha Simms said in a phone interview on Monday. "I don't understand how you're going to charge someone who was mentally incompetent."
She went on to claim that the only reason why she recieved those charges was because "they [the authorities] had to do something" and were under a lot of public pressure.
"This is uncaring and unfair," she said of the charges against her daughter. "They knew she would never do anything harmful to him to cause his death."
Simms was arrested on Saturday and will be arraigned on Monday in Circuit Court for Charles County. Her bail has been set at $150,000.
In conclusion Vontasha said: "She really is not a bad person. People with mental illnesses should not be having such a stigma placed against them."
