A lesbian mother and her wife were charged after their 4-year-old son was found in a metal trash bin with “obvious signs of injury.” Malachi Lawson went missing Thursday, August 1, and the FBI got involved in investigating the whereabouts of the child.
However, after just a day since he was reported missing from the porch of his grandmother’s home in Baltimore, the boy’s mother Alicia Lawson, 24, admitted that Malachi was actually dead. After she and her wife Shatika Lawson, 40, were charged with involuntary manslaughter, child abuse and making false statements, in connection to the child’s death, Alicia led the authorities to the location where she had dumped her son’s body.
Before his body was found, the child suffered severe burns which went untreated, the police said, Daily Mail reported. “Last night after extensive interviews with Malachi’s mother, Alicia Lawson, she confessed that her son was not missing, but deceased. She subsequently gave detectives the location of the child’s remains which were in the 5500 block of Haddon Avenue,” the police commissioner Michael Harrison said in a press conference Saturday.
Malachi Lawson (Source: Facebook)
The documents listing the charges were released Monday and it contained further gruesome details about what led to the victim’s death. According to the records, the accused pair told the investigators Malachi had been put in such a hot bath that he suffered burns so severe his skin was floating around him.
Afraid they will be held responsible for the incident and charged with child abuse, Malachi’s parents decided to treat him themselves instead of getting him to a hospital. Nine days after the incident, Alicia found her son unconscious, lying in a “puddle of wetness.” She wrapped up his body in a blanket and took a Lyft to put it in a dumpster almost 10 miles away.
While testing the water at the couple’s house, the police found that at “no time” did the bathwater exceed lukewarm temperatures. Prosecutors claimed Alicia’s mother reportedly searched for trash collection sites on the web – a detail which initially made the FBI suspicious of her involvement in the child’s disappearance. The police believe Malachi died on August 1.
An autopsy report is still pending on the child’s death. Authorities said that the accused pair might face additional charges if malicious intent is behind their son’s death is proven.
