Caregiver ‘brutally murdered’ 3-year-old using wet wipes, cops say. She pleads guilty
A woman will spend decades in prison after a 3-year-old she was caring for suffered a “horrific” death, Pennsylvania authorities said.
Chelsea Cooley, 33, pleaded guilty to third-degree murder, strangulation and endangering the welfare of a child following the May 2022 death of the toddler, Pennsylvania Attorney General Michelle Henry announced Monday, April 8. Cooley was sentenced to 40 to 80 years in prison.
The victim was identified by KDKA as Travis Young. The child was the son of Cooley’s boyfriend, the attorney general said.
On May 28, 2022, the 3-year-old was found unresponsive at Cooley’s Bedford County home with baby wipes lodged in his throat, according to Henry. He died in a hospital the next day.
An autopsy revealed he died from strangulation and asphyxiation “based on the location of the wipes and other injuries on his body,” authorities said.
According to the investigation by Pennsylvania State Police, Cooley was the caregiver for boy and other children at the home. The boy’s father was working a 12-hour shift.
Police said Cooley reported the child threw “a temper tantrum” earlier in the day and “would not eat his lunch,” according to WJAC.
She said she later found a wet wipe in the boy’s throat when she checked on him at around 8:30 p.m., but medical personnel were skeptical the child was able to do it himself, WJAC reported, citing an arrest affidavit.
“Doctors reported to police that they removed four wet wipes from the child’s throat and noted there was some blood on them,” according to court documents obtained by WTAJ. “It was their expert opinion that they were lodged so far down his throat that he never could have put them there himself, according to court documents.”
A neighbor heard a woman yell “shut up” around the time the child was believed to have been injured, according to the attorney general.
Cooley took a picture showing the child’s “obvious injuries,” but the picture was taken more than 25 minutes after she called 911, authorities said.
Injuries Travis suffered included “scratches and handprints the size of an adult on his body,” WTAJ reported.
“The facts of this case are horrific,” Henry said in a statement. “This defendant was responsible for caring for this child, and instead she did the unthinkable. She brutally murdered him, a defenseless and innocent three-year-old child. This defendant’s actions are devastating to the child’s loved ones, but we hope today’s admission and sentence offer a measure of justice.”
Bedford County is about a 105-mile drive southeast of Pittsburgh.
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