A “mentally ill” Maryland mom has been indicted for swinging her toddler son to death almost four months ago at a public playground.
The state’s attorney for Charles County announced today that 24-year-old Romechia Simms was arrested over the weekend and charged with manslaughter, first-degree child abuse, and child neglect.
She is expected to be arraigned today for allowing her 3-year-old boy, Ji’Aire Donald Lee, to die a slow and agonizingly death from dehydration and exposure to the elements while she pushed him in a swing.
Residents near Wills Memorial Park in the suburb of La Plata first took notice and reported the bizarre scene in the playground last May, after mother and son had been at the swing-set for well over 24 hours.
Police then “performed a welfare check” on the pair but arrived too late to save the boy, who, according to the incident report, was still being swung by his parent although it was “instantaneously clear the child was dead.”
A medical examiner found the otherwise healthy and uninjured boy died from overexposure and by July 2015 had ruled the toddler’s death a homicide, with Romechia Simms the only suspect.
Eyewitnesses further testified that Ji’Aire Lee was originally “placed alive” in the swing by his mother as early as the morning of May 20th. However, by the time officers intervened on May 22nd, he had already passed away.
Tragically, the biological father had petitioned a court for sole custody only a few months before the toddler was swung to death, citing concerns about Simms’ psychological instability.
But a judge denied his request, declaring Simms “a fit mom.”
