A mother who left her baby inside her car overnight said she took prescription pain killers and drank chardonnay before the fatal incident, according to police documents.
LaHeather Wilson, 35, found her 7-month-old son Christian Micah Wilson dead Wednesday morning, Cedar Hill police said. Police said Wilson left her son inside her 1994 Plymouth Acclaim parked along the street in front of the family's house in the 1200 block of Brewer Drive.
Wilson told police that she had taken two Hydrocodone pills at about 4 p.m. before leaving work, then drank some chardonnay when she got home at about 5:30 p.m., and took one more pill before leaving to pick up her three boys from day care.
She said the pills were prescribed on Sunday for complications with her knee.
She told police that when she returned home, she took Christian's diaper bag and his 3-and 6-year-old brothers inside, while leaving him strapped inside his car seat. She sat the diaper bag down by the bar near the kitchen as the other two children came inside and began eating dinner.
Wilson told police "that after she finished her glass of chardonnay, she immediately had a sharp pain in her injured knee and sat down on the couch in the living room." She said she believes she "blacked out" because all she remembers is waking up at 6:45 a.m. and realizing that the baby was not in his playpen next to the couch where she sleeps. She went outside and found her son in the car unresponsive and cold to the touch.
She took the child inside and removed his clothes to see if he was still breathing. After checking the baby, she searched for her cell phone so she could call for help. When should could not find her phone, she went next door to a Dallas police officer's house and asked to borrow his phone. But she didn't call 911 or tell him what happened. Instead, she went back home and attempted to call four other numbers, including her husband, before going back to the officer's house to ask for help.
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"The poor little fella didn't have a chance at life," the officer, Senior Cpl. Ivery Croson, told the Dallas Morning News. "I really wish I could have helped her."
Croson said he attempted CPR on the baby, before paramedics arrived.
The Dallas County Medical Examiner has not released a cause of death for Christian. The overnight low recorded that night at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport was 50.
Wilson was charged with reckless injury to a child, a second-degree felony, and was being held at the Dallas County Jail Thursday night, with bail set at $100,000.
Public records show that she pleaded guilty in Dallas County to a 2007 charge of driving while intoxicated, the Dallas Morning News reported. She also was cited for public intoxication in Cedar Hill once in 2007 and again in 2008.
Wilson's two other sons are now in the care of Child Protective Services. The family did not have a previous history with CPS, said spokeswoman Marissa Gonzales.
