Police placed a Georgia mother under arrest and charged her with second-degree murder for allegedly drowning her seven-month-old daughter last month, People reports.
Authorities took Shaquila Feaster, 31, into custody at a Decatur funeral home, officials said, according to The Atlanta-Journal Constitution.
Feaster allegedly left her infant daughter unsupervised in a filled bathtub on July 30 and went downstairs for five minutes, according to the warrant.
The child was transported to the hospital, but did not survive, according to the sheriff’s office.
Feaster’s 29-week-old daughter’s, Ja’Lonnie Small, passed away on August 4, according to an obituary. Her funeral took place at Peace Baptist Church in Decatur Friday morning, AJC
reports.No bond is set for Feaster; it is unknown if she has retained legal representation, according to People.
Feaster has not appeared in court or entered a plea to her charges. Police have not publicly addressed a possible motive for the infant’s death.
Georgia law states, “a person is charged with murder in the second degree when they cause the death of a child through second-degree cruelty to children, which is based on criminal negligence,” according to AJC.
According to
the CDC, children between the ages of 1 to 4 have the highest rates of drowning, usually in swimming pools. Fatal drowning is the second-leading cause of death, following motor vehicle crashes, for children ages 1 through 14.The CDC reports states that for infants under the age of one year old, two-thirds of all drownings occur in bathtubs.