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The mother, who is in custody but has not been formally charged, then went outside and smoked two cigarettes before going back in and telling a family member what she had done, search warrant records show.
“(She) put her hands over his face and said to herself ’This is the best,“’ the records state. She told police her son woke up and started kicking as she was smothering him. “(She) stated at that point she pressed down harder.”
After the boy stopped breathing, she put his head on a pillow, she told police.
Officers said they found the boy on his back in an upstairs room and began resuscitation because the boy was still warm to the touch. He was pronounced dead soon after at a hospital.
The woman also showed officers a scar from what she said was a recent suicide attempt, and told them she was on prescription medication.
The Winnebago County coroner concluded the boy was murdered on Tuesday, but did not release a cause.
Neenah police asked the Milwaukee County district attorney’s office to be the special prosecutor and file homicide charges against the boy’s mother because she worked as an employee of Winnebago County.
Officials declined to give specifics, but said her employment would cause a conflict for Winnebago prosecutors.
Jon Reddin, Milwaukee County chief deputy district attorney, said the office is waiting for reports from Neenah police and did not know when charges might be filed.
Police say the woman is in custody, but not in Winnebago County Jail.
“She is not in jail, but she is in a secure place,” Neenah police Lt. Jeff Malcore said Tuesday.
The woman’s 8-year-old daughter was not injured and has been placed with family by the county Department of Human Services.
