Stepmother Choked 3-Year-Old To Death By Forcing Wet Wipes Down His Throat

A woman in Pennsylvania was arrested on Monday after police officers believe that she forced multiple wet wipes down the throat of her stepson as a way of killing the child through choking.

Chelsea R. Cooley, a 31-year-old woman, called police officers after she told them that she found her stepson not breathing properly in his crib. The child, whom officers determined was choking on wet wipes, succumbed to their injuries soon after arriving to the hospital, according to the Bedford Gazette.

Cooley, who placed the call 25 minutes after she told officers she found the child, told the police that the boy had behavioral issues and that the child refused to eat his lunch that day and that the child stuffed the wet wipes down his own throat, Law&Crime reported.

An investigation from the authorities showed that the wet wipes were not stored in the boy’s room. Emergency services said that four wet wipes were taken out his throat, which were covered in blood and put in there in such a way that the medic “did not believe that the child would have been able to put the wipes down his own throat.”

The child also had “extensive bruising” on the chest and neck as well as feces in one of their hands. Cooley, when questioned again, reiterated her claim that the child was having behavioral problems, claiming that he was acting out and that she was planning on putting him into a group home.

When Cooley’s daughter was questioned regarding the incident, she said that she did not witness the boy choking and that she was too busy playing video games with her friend to notice the incident until the boy’s father called her directly.

Cooley will face a plethora of charges against her for the death of the child, including criminal homicide, child endangerment, aggravated assault, and strangulation. Her request for bail was denied by the court.