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Shirley L. Sawyer (Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office).
A babysitter in Louisiana is behind bars for allegedly murdering a 3-month-old infant after being left alone with the child for just three hours, with his mom returning home to find her son “limp” and unresponsive after suffering multiple skull fractures and a “massive brain bleed” at the sitter’s hands, cops say.
“I’ve been knowing this girl for a minute, and I couldn’t believe it,” the mother, Symone Anderson, told local NBC affiliate WSFA. “You smiled in my face, and you killed my baby behind my back,” the grieving mother said.
Shirley L. Sawyer, 40, of Lake Charles, was asked by Anderson to watch her son, Kairo Anderson, on Jan. 22, according to the Calcasieu Parish Sheriff’s Office. Anderson says that when she returned home, she thought Kairo was sleeping at first, but he was actually unconscious.
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“The mother advised when she arrived at Sawyer’s residence, she believed the baby to be asleep, but a short time later discovered the child was limp and unresponsive, at which time she immediately transported the baby to the hospital,” the sheriff’s office said in a press release Tuesday. “After further investigation, on February 3, detectives issued a warrant for Sawyer’s arrest.”
During their investigation, cops said they interviewed hospital personnel and were informed that Kairo suffered injuries consistent with “trauma” and an assault.
“Detectives learned the baby sustained a massive brain bleed and multiple skull fractures, which are believed to be consistent with trauma,” the sheriff’s office said. “The baby was airlifted to a hospital out of town where he later died from his injuries.”
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Sawyer was taken into custody Tuesday and booked into the Calcasieu Correctional Center on a charge of first-degree murder. She remained behind bars Thursday with a bond of $2.5 million.