Police: Daycare worker kills 7-week-old infant girl, leaves skulls fractures ‘too numerous to count’

A Milwaukee woman is charged with homicide after police say she beat a baby girl so badly that the infant’s skull fractures were “too numerous to count.”

FOX 6 reports that 37-year-old Claudette Mitchell is charged with first degree reckless homicide after authorities found seven-week-old Savaiyah Reid unresponsive at the Milwaukee “Who’s Luvin You” daycare center off of 77th and Villard last Tuesday.

According to court documents, Mitchell, the daycare owner and only person who cared for the baby that day, allegedly hit the infant on both sides of her face and on her nose, forehead and cheeks.

A criminal report against Mitchell read that the baby “had multiple contusions and abrasions to the right and left side of the face, the forehead, nose, and cheek. Savaiyah Reid’s body also had bruising to the abdomen. An internal examination revealed multiple, too numerous to count, skull fractures.”

Further, emergency responders reported that the baby had blood in her airway, a thumbprint-shaped bruise on her chest, and bruises and scratches all over her head.

Mitchell told police she put the baby down for a nap at around 1:45 p.m., according to the Milwaukee Sentinel. She said she went to check on Savaiyah at around 3 p.m. and found lying unconscious with scratches and bleeding on her face.

The suspect’s daughter, a 17-year-old, said she was napping upstairs, but the other children playing woke her up at a little after 3 p.m. She said she went downstairs and saw Savaiyah on a changing table, with Mitchell standing over the infant, crying. Mitchell’s daughter called 911, but the suspect took the phone from her and talked to a dispatch operator.

Mitchell’s daughter was also arrested in connection with the infant’s death along with her mother, but it’s unclear what her exact charges are.

Authorities rushed the baby to a local emergency room, where a physician said that the injuries were so extensive that they would have been immediately noticeable.

Mitchell admitted that she was the only person caring for the baby when the injuries occurred, yet she hasn’t admitted to abusing the child. She also said she never left the home daycare the entire day and that the other children she cared for didn’t enter the room while Savaiyah was napping.

The suspect is behind bars on $75,000 cash bail. If convicted, she faces up to 60 years in prison. Her next hearing is scheduled for September 6.

[Feature Photo Handout/Milwaukee County Sheriff’s Office]