Arkansas mom left baby to drown in bath after she she 'lost track of time' while texting her own mom, cops say
Police say the mother changed her story, at first telling them she had left the boy for only a couple of minutes, before later telling them it was 14 minutes
A mother in Arkansas has been accused of leaving her one-year-old son to drown in the bath after getting distracted texting her mom.
Courtney Marie Newsom, 31, allegedly left the boy alone in the water for 14 minutes.
The Arkansas mom told police she came back into the room to find her son Brady "laying on his back with water over his lips and nose."
Newsom was arrested and charged with one count of felony manslaughter by recklessly causing death, as well as two counts of third-degree endangering the welfare of a minor after the August 7 death of the babe.
In court documents, police with the Brookland Police Department say they were called to a home at the Logan Street and Wagner Place Apartments to reports of an unresponsive infant, according to news website JonesboroRightNow, citing a probable cause affidavit.
READ MORE: Move your Wi-Fi router away from one household item to instantly boost speedsREAD MORE: Taylor Swift addresses 'actual amnesia' her fans experienced after the Eras TourThey arrived at the scene to find the suspect trying to perform CPR on the boy. First responders took over and rushed the boy to hospital for treatment.
Police say that at first Newsom told them she had only left the room for less than two minutes before finding her son unresponsive. But later her story changed, police say.
"Officers spoke with Courtney about what had happened. Courtney said she was giving her son and daughter a bath and that she left the room for approximately 60 to 90 seconds," the affidavit said as reported by the Jonesboro Sun. "When Courtney returned, she found her son laying on his back with water over his lips and nose and that she grabbed him out of the tub and started CPR."
The boy was pronounced dead on the evening of August 13.
In a later interview with investigators, Newsom reportedly altered her timeline of that fateful day, explaining she left her son alone in the bath for more than 10 minutes.
"She said that she got up at 6:55am and both kids had been sick but her son seemed better but that she was going to call into work so she could take them to the doctor. She said that she gets up at 6:55am, gets the kids ready for a bath, that's my morning routine," the affidavit reportedly said.
It continued: "So then, she said she put them in the bath, then walked out of the room to put her daughter's phone in her backpack. 'I then text my mom and thought I had only been out of the room for a minute but I lost track of time cause I was gone for 14 minutes. The reason I know this is because I text my mom the first time at 7am and called her when I found my son at 7:14am"
She was arrested on October 11, and appeared in court on October 15.
A GoFundMe has been set up to help the mom pay her legal costs. Describing the boy's death as a very tragic accident, the writer of the fundraiser said Newsom was placed "in isolation and on suicide watch" after her arrest.
Just under $1,500 has been raised for the fundraisers.