Mother Pleads Guilty To Drowning Newborn Baby In Toilet

[Dr. Jack]

Local story here

POSTED: February 15, 2006

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A Fort Lauderdale woman who gave birth on a toilet and knowingly allowed the baby to drown will be sentenced March 30.

Shatoya Nelson pleaded guilty Tuesday to aggravated manslaughter. She was originally charged with first-degree murder.

Nelson, then 21, told investigators she didn't know she was pregnant until she gave birth at her mother's Tamarac, Fla., apartment July 21, 2004.

According to detectives, Nelson said she left the infant in the toilet for several minutes before taking her out and wrapping her in a towel.

"She sat there and consciously made the decision to sit there for 10 minutes while the baby laid inside the toilet," said Liz Calzadilla of the Broward Sheriff's Office. "Moments later she then used a pair of scissors to remove the child's umbilical cord, and then waited an additional 10 minutes before pulling the child out of the toilet and wrapping her in a towel."

Nelson's mother discovered the dead baby the following morning and insisted Nelson take the body to the hospital.

Nelson showed up at the Coral Springs Medical Center with the dead baby in a plastic bag. She reportedly told hospital staff the child had been stillborn.

Nelson previously made headlines in August 2003 when she abandoned her newborn son at her grandmother's Lauderhill, Fla., home. For a year, she worked with child welfare officials, undergoing counseling and taking parenting classes as she worked to get her children back.

A judge later ruled Nelson fit to care for her two other children.

Nelson's attorney said he'll ask that she be sentenced to probation and counseling.