Baby dies after mother’s alleged abuse
The infant son of a Coal Center mother charged last month with abusing the child died at UPMC Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh Monday.
Isaiah Sullivan, age 5 months, was on life support for more than a month before dying from his injuries at 6:14 p.m. Monday, according to the Allegheny County Medical Examiner’s office.
His mother, 25-year-old Symantha Sullivan, is in Washington County jail facing attempted homicide charges.
Sullivan, whose last-known address was Grange Road in Coal Center, is accused of abusing the child Sept. 10 and 11, which ultimately resulted in Isaiah’s death nearly two months later, according to the medical examiner’s report.
When contacted Tuesday, state police could not say whether Sullivan’s attempted homicide charges would be changed to homicide. Forrest Allison, public information officer for Troop B, said state police are working with the district attorney’s office on the “ongoing investigation based on this new information.”
Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone said Tuesday afternoon his office is investigating the baby’s death.
“At the appropriate time we’ll file charges,” he said. “There’s a lot of work to be done before we file any additional charges.”
State police were alerted to the abuse when they responded Sept. 11 to America’s Best Value Inn and Suites Motel in Canton Township for the report of an unconscious baby, according to the criminal complaint.
Sullivan’s boyfriend, Justin Thaxton, and the baby’s 2-year-old sister were the only ones in the hotel room when Isaiah apparently fell from the bed to the floor, the complaint states. Isaiah was unconscious and not breathing when Thaxton called Sullivan to tell her what had happened, court documents state.
After Sullivan returned to the hotel, she called 911, but police didn’t say how long the couple waited before making that phone call. He was flown to Children’s Hospital, where he was placed on life support.
It wasn’t the first incident of abuse, according to the criminal complaint. After police received from the hospital a lengthy list of the child’s injuries – including brain injuries, internal bleeding and more than 13 fractures – they interviewed Sullivan again Sept. 22, when she allegedly admitted to the abuse.
She told police that a few days prior to the incident at the motel, she had dropped Isaiah on his head and face in the bathtub of their motel room. She told police that the infant only fell a foot, that he didn’t have any marks or bruising and that he “seemed fine,” according to the criminal complaint.
When Isaiah woke up crying at 10 p.m. Sept. 10, Sullivan punched him in the back of the head, hard enough that it cause her hand to sting, police wrote in the affidavit. She told police she never checked the child for injuries, and that he cried for 20 minutes before falling back to sleep.
The following morning, Sullivan had trouble waking Isaiah, the complaint said. His eyes were “glazed over” and he wouldn’t move them.
“She said that she also grabbed the victim by the upper arms/shoulders and shook him hard back and forth, three to four times that morning,” police wrote in the affidavit.
Isaiah slept most of that day and only drank one bottle, Sullivan told police. She didn’t take him out of his car seat from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., the complaint states.
Sullivan was charged Sept. 23 with two counts each of attempted criminal homicide, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, simple assault, recklessly endangering another person and harassment. She was jailed on $2 million bond.
She is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing before District Judge James Saieva at 10 a.m. Friday at the Washington County courthouse.
Staff writer Barbara Miller contributed to this story.