Sicklerville woman gets life without parole for murder of toddler son

CAMDEN – A Gloucester Township woman has been sentenced to life in prison for killing her toddler son in May 2018, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

Heather Reynolds, 45, was convicted of the murder of her child, 17-month-old Axel, after a nine-day trial in July.

She has no possibility of parole under the term imposed Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Gwendolyn Blue in Camden.

“Before the sentencing of Reynolds, Judge Blue listened to members of the victim’s family discuss how the defendant’s crime had affected their lives,” the prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

Gloucester Township police officers in May 2018 found Reynolds' son unresponsive on a lawn near his home in Marcia Court, Sicklerville.

The boy was pronounced dead a short time later and an autopsy determined the cause of death was asphyxia, the prosecutor’s office said.

Reynolds was charged with the child's murder in June 2019.

A Clayton man, Jeffrey Callahan, was charged in May 2021 with conspiring with Reynolds to kill the woman's former boyfriend.

At a court hearing after Callahan's arrest, a prosecutor alleged Reynolds killed her son in part based on a desire to maintain a relationship with the former boyfriend.

But she allegedly “developed a desire to have (the man) killed” when he cooperated with the investigation into Axel's death, said Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Peter Gallagher.

He said investigators learned in September 2019 that Callahan had allegedly asked someone about a murder for hire.

The killer could expect to be paid as much as $25,000, Gallagher said.

Callahan admitted guilt in July to a witness tampering charge of withholding testimony. Blue sentenced him to a two-year probationary term and 456 days of time served.

Reynolds also was found guilty at trial of possession of methamphetamine and endangering the welfare of a child. She is to serve concurrent terms of eight years for endangering and four years for the drug crime.

Jim Walsh is a senior reporter with the Courier-Post, Burlington County Times and The Daily Journal

This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: Sicklerville NJ woman sentenced to life for murder of son