Phoenix mother suspected of murder after leaving infant daughter alone for 37 hours
Phoenix police arrested a mother on Jan. 5 after investigators uncovered evidence indicating she left her infant daughter alone for approximately 37 hours, resulting in the baby’s death.
Police responded to an apartment complex for domestic violence victims at an undisclosed location on July 30, 2023, in regards to a six-week-old girl not breathing. Officers found the infant on a mattress on the floor in the living room, where she was pronounced dead.
Documents say the girl’s mother, 24-year-old Sara Harris, told police the girl was fussy the night before and gave her ibuprofen via a syringe at 5 p.m. the day prior and carried her around until the baby fell asleep at 2:30 a.m. Harris told police she left the apartment around 8 a.m. before returning a little over an hour later when she found her child unresponsive.
However, documents said police reviewed surveillance footage, which showed Harris entering the apartment around 9:12 a.m. but she wasn’t seen leaving the apartment at 8 a.m. as she had claimed.
Instead, footage showed Harris leaving the apartment at 7:23 p.m. on July 28 and not returning until 9:12 a.m. on July 30 before she called her parents, who arrived at her apartment around 9:30 a.m. Officers arrived a short time later, where they met Harris holding her other daughter, who was 17 months old.
Footage also showed an unknown man approaching the apartment at around 10 a.m. on July 29 and cracking open the door, which was slightly ajar, but didn’t enter the apartment and left shortly thereafter.
Documents say police obtained a search warrant for Harris’ phone, which contained emails from the shelter telling her she couldn’t leave her children unattended in the apartment. Investigators didn’t find infant ibuprofen in the apartment, but rather a bottle of children’s Nyquil intended for kids six years or older. They also found a baby bottle with milk with a pinkish hue and red liquid near the nipple of the bottle.
The Maricopa County Office of the Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death as mucus from a common cold clogging her windpipe, chlorpheniramine intoxication and an unsafe sleeping environment.
Documents said police detained Harris on Jan. 5 and brought her to the department headquarters, where Harris admitted to bottle feeding her infant daughter Nyquil and melatonin before propping her in an upward position on the mattress and then placing her 17-month-old daughter in a playpen.
Documents said Harris told police she had asked a neighbor to check on her children while she was away and left the door slightly ajar so they could enter. Harris also said she had taken illegal drugs while she was gone and became upset when she returned to the apartment after realizing how long she had left them alone.
Police booked Harris into jail on one count of second-degree murder and one count of child abuse. Documents show Harris is being held on a $100,000 bond and is scheduled to appear in Maricopa County Superior Court on Jan. 11.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Mother suspected of murder after leaving infant alone for 37 hours
