A 24-year-old Florida mother has been charged with murdering her 2-year-old son; officials said she strapped him in a booster seat for 15 hours last month — as punishment for “acting out” — and neglected him, the Tampa Bay Times reported.
What are the details?
Rebecca Gussage-Johnston was arrested in May on charges of aggravated child abuse resulting in great bodily harm and child neglect in connection with the case, the paper said. But she now faces an additional charge of first-degree murder while engaged in child abuse, the paper said, citing the Hillsborough County Sheriff’s Office.
The sheriff’s office said the new charge was added Thursday after the medical examiner ruled the child’s death was a homicide caused by severe neglect, the paper reported.
More from the Times:
Deputies were called to a mobile RV in the 10000 block of U.S. Highway 301 in Tampa on May 19 around 8 p.m. after the boy’s aunt found the child unresponsive, a search warrant in the case states. The boy was found in a bassinette underneath a blanket.
The boy’s aunt was asked to check on the child by the 2-year-old’s father.
While speaking with police, Gussage-Johnston admitted to strapping the boy in a table booster seat as punishment for “acting out” and screaming, about 8 p.m. on May 18, a day before police arrived, according to an arrest affidavit.
The 2-year-old was confined to the booster seat for about 15 hours, the affidavit states. The boy became unresponsive about 2 p.m. on May 19, according to the warrant.
The paper, citing the affidavit, said the boy was asleep and sitting upright in the booster seat around midnight May 19 when Gussage-Johnston last saw him.
In the late morning, Gussage-Johnston found the boy laying on his side, still restrained in the seat, having seizures and shaking uncontrollably, the paper said, adding that the affidavit states the boy died in her arms.
Gussage-Johnston didn’t call 911 throughout the day on May 19 despite having a working phone, the paper said, citing the warrant.
Investigators said the boy had trauma to his head, a wound on his right thigh, and bruising on his extremities, the paper reported, citing the affidavit, adding that he also was found covered in vomit and feces.
The boy’s father told police he purchased the RV about a year ago and said Gussage-Johnston, the boy, and their other child lived in it, the Times reported, citing the warrant.
The father didn’t live in the home and hadn’t seen the boy in at least six months, the paper said, adding that the warrant notes the father told police Gussage-Johnston “always keeps the children locked in the mobile RV.”
Gussage-Johnston was being held without bail Friday at the Falkenburg Road Jail, the Times reported.
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