Maryland police found a mother swinging a dead baby at a public playground Friday and are now investigating the possibility that foul play was involved in the child’s death.
The bizarre and sad case was brought to their attention by witnesses who noticed that the pair had been at the park swingset for an inordinate length of time and were concerned for their well being and welfare.
When police arrived to investigate, they quickly determined that those fears were justified -- the toddler boy had been dead for some time and had to be carefully extracted from the seat he was strapped into.
They think the clearly bereaved young mother may have been swinging her deceased son for hours, if not overnight, and accordingly transported the 24-year-old to a nearby hospital for medical treatment and observation.
They were unable to immediately determine where the unidentified female lived or who to contact because she gave a number of different addresses, together with a few relatives’ names which they now hope to verify.
Charles County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Diane Richardson says an investigation into the exact circumstances of the baby’s death and the mother’s activities in the previous days is currently underway.
Although it’s too soon then to rule out infanticide, Richardson adds that “no trauma was seen on the boy's body” leading detectives to suspect that the matter is a simple but terrible tragedy which has severely distressed the unnamed young woman.
"It's a very sad and tragic situation for the mother, her family, and the [responding] officers," Richardson says. "All of us want answers. We're working very hard on that."
