PITTSBURGH, Pa. — A Boone County woman was sentenced Thursday in a Pittsburgh courtroom to spend 18 months in a Pennsylvania prison for trying to suffocate her 4-month-old child at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh last year.
Rachel Nelson, 22, of Costa, pleaded guilty earlier this year to aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and endangering the life of another person.
Nelson tried to smother her son twice on Oct. 18, 2012 while he was a patient at the Pittsburgh hospital. The young boy survived the incident.
Investigators said Nelson and the boy’s father Shawn Nelson, 43, were approached by investigators after they reviewed surveillance video. Nelson admitted to holding her son tight to her chest until he stopped breathing.
Detectives said at the time the investigation showed Nelson may have smothered her son numerous times in Boone County between August and October 2012. The Boone County Sheriff’s Dept. was investigating.
Along with the jail time, a judge Thursday sentenced Nelson to five years probation and ordered her to stay away from children.