Shaken Baby Dies

Shaken baby dies, sitter faces murder charge By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer [email protected] Posted on Sunday, March 20, 2005 URL: http://www.nwanews.com/story/bcdr/18557

BENTONVILLE — A baby sitter accused of causing shaken baby syndrome in a 4month-old Rogers boy is now being held in the Benton County Jail for capital murder after the child died Saturday morning at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock. Police arrested Samantha Anne Mitchell, 30, of Rogers, on Wednesday for battery in the first degree, class B felony. Her bond was set at $50,000, but Rogers detectives arrested her Saturday at the jail on a charge of capital murder, a class Y felony, according to Rogers police Capt. Ron Largent. Mitchell is now being held in the jail pending a bond hearing on the murder charge. According to Largent, detectives were contacted by the hospital and informed that Dominick Sanders died of his injuries at approximately 7:30 a.m. According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, the baby was on life support at Arkansas Children’s Hospital and was dependent on a respirator and medication to control his blood pressure and heart rate. Police began investigating the incident March 15 after being alerted by doctors in the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The 4-month-old infant was brought to the hospital after he had seizures. Doctors determined that the seizures were caused by bleeding and swelling of the brain. Doctors from Children’s Hospital told police that the infant’s injuries were consistent with being violently shaken, according to the affidavit. Reggie Sanders, the boy’s father, told an investigator that Mitchell had been baby sitting his son for seven days, the affidavit states Sanders dropped his son off at the sitter’s at 7:45 a. m March 15 and his wife picked the boy up at 5:15 p.m. Sanders said his wife later called him to report she thought something was wrong with their son and asked him to come home, the affidavit states. When he arrived home, his wife was holding Dominick. Sanders noticed his son was having a seizure and they took the baby to the emergency room. According to the affidavit, with the use of a doll, Mitchell told a detective she held the child face down over her right arm, which is in a cast, while she used her left

hand and foot to try and open the swing to set Dominick in. Mitchell said she was frustrated by not being able to open the swing and had to set the child down two or three times, the affidavit states. During the demonstration of how it happened, the motion the doll went through during the demonstration caused its head to rock back and forth, according to the affidavit. Mitchell denied violently shaking the infant to cause any injuries, the affidavit states.