COLUMBIA, Md. — Charging documents paint a disturbing picture of the poor living conditions endured by a three-year old child before his tragic death last November.
An autopsy revealed the child died of dehydration and malnourishment at a home in Columbia.
Howard County Police have since charged Shalyne Brown, 27, with second-degree murder.
Brown originally claimed she found her son unresponsive in his highchair, after she'd fallen asleep and left him sitting there for multiple hours.
Officers noticed the boy had several scars on the sides of his hips that were consistent with the highchair strap being placed around his skin.
"There was dried food and possibly vomit on the seat portion," detectives noted about the highchair.
The child also had "a large bruise, burn, or scab on the top of his forehead."
Police described the room in which Brown and the child lived as smelling like feces.
Inside that same room, investigators discovered "multiple food containers that appeared to have mold/ old food in them at various stages of rot."
When asked about the marks left on her child's body, Brown said she "honestly don't know," adding that her child often banged his head.
While denying that she ever abused her son, Brown did admit to "popping" the child when carrying out discipline, but not in a way that would leave bruising. According to Brown, she never observed any bruising anyway because the child's hair covered it up.
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Brown and her son lived on Hickory Log Circle at her boyfriend's mother's house.
Two days before the boy died, Brown's boyfriend told police that he recommended taking the child to the ER because something was wrong.
Brown apparently agreed, but the couple never did take the child to the hospital.
The boyfriend and Brown each believed the child had Autism, although he was not officially diagnosed, due to having no primary care doctor.
Both mentioned how the child was unable to use real words, instead making sounds to indicate what he needed.
In their autopsy report, the Medical Examiner concluded "the three-year-old victim was a child who was completely dependent on adults as his sole source of nourishment and care, the manner of death is certified as Homicide."
Brown was eventually arrested in Pennsylvania where she initially is from and returned to following the child's death.
She's being held without bail.
