A Pennsylvania mother was charged with homicide after she allegedly admitted to smothering her crying baby last month.
Police were called to Patricia Hullenbaugh’s home on January 6 over an unresponsive child. The 9-month-old was found with no pulse and not breathing.
The baby died five days later at UPMC Children’s Hospital. His 21-year-old mother became the main suspect in his death when she gave detectives contradicting stories about his death.
Hullenbaugh initially claimed that she left the infant sleeping and returned about an hour later to find him “hanging” from the crib with his face on the mattress.
During the investigation, police conducted several “reenactments” of how the infant was found in the crib, forcing Hullenbaugh to confess that she smothered him with a blanket.
The mother revealed that the boy was “nonstop crying” making her “frustrated.” She added that after smothering the infant, she adjusted the crib’s slats to “cover up what she did” and waited 15 minutes before telling the boy’s father that he died.
In addition to criminal homicide, Hullenbaugh was also charged with child endangerment and strangulation.
