Baby sitter charged in death of Malden infant

KENNETT, Mo. — A Malden, Missouri, woman is in jail after being accused of recklessly causing the death of a 9-month-old boy by shaking him while left in her care on Halloween.

Breon Dannielle Lashay Hess, 24, was charged Thursday by Dunklin County Prosecuting Attorney Jeffrey McCormick with first-degree involuntary manslaughter, abuse of a child and first-degree endangering the welfare of a child.

The charges were filed the day Hess’ alleged victim died at 1:03 a.m. at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital in St. Louis. The infant had been receiving treatment for head trauma since he was flown there Monday.

At 4:35 p.m. Monday, the Malden Police Department received a 911 call from a Blades Drive apartment about an unresponsive infant, according to police chief Jarrett Bullock’s probable-cause statement in the case.

The infant initially was taken to Southeast Health of Stoddard County in Dexter, Missouri, for treatment, then transferred to the St. Louis hospital, he said.

Medical staff, Bullock said, contacted his department and the Missouri State Highway Patrol and reported the infant was suffering from “devastating brain injury, extensive retinal hemorrhage (and) possible reti-noschistis (splitting of the retina).”

The conditions gave medical staff probable cause to suspect abuse or negligence, Bullock wrote.

The infant, he said, was in the care of Hess at the time the injuries were sustained.

At 2:15 p.m. Wednesday, Hess reportedly came to the Malden Police Department and, after being told of her rights, spoke with Bullock and police Cpl. C.D. Hamlett.

“In her own words, she told us that after caring for the child since Sunday, Oct. 30, 2016, he was unusually fussy and (while) trying to deal with him ... she became upset and frustrated she could not calm him,” Bullock said.

Hess said she picked up the infant with her hands underneath his armpits.

“She shook him,” Bullock said. “Ms. Hess went on to say after shaking the small infant, she dropped him onto a blanket in the floor and watched over him for a few minutes.”

Hess said the infant “was clam and quiet, and after an unknown amount of time, she checked on him and found that he was gasping for breath, and he vomited.”

At that point, Hess told them she picked the infant up and noticed “one eye was closed, and the other was open, and he was barely breathing,” Bullock said.

Hess “shook the child again to try to get a response, but he did not respond,” Bullock said.

Hess initially called a friend, who told her to hang up and call 911, Bullock said.

Hess was arrested and is being held in the Dunklin County Jail on $250,000 cash bond.

Pertinent address:

Malden, Mo.