Maryland mother arrested after infant dies from brain bleeds and multiple skull fractures

HARFORD COUNTY, Md. (TCN) — A 32-year-old woman faces charges after allegedly fatally abusing her infant daughter over the weekend.

On Sunday, Dec. 29, the Harford County Sheriff’s Office responded to Johns Hopkins Bayview Medical Center to a report of possible child abuse. Detectives met with medical staff and learned a 5 1/2-month-old baby girl had been transported to the hospital via ambulance and had sustained multiple skull fractures, brain bleeds, a fractured leg, and other life-threatening injuries.

Per charging documents reviewed by WBAL-TV, the child’s mother, Maya Dennis, was the one who called 911 and said her daughter wasn’t breathing. The baby had reportedly returned home shortly before the holidays after spending time in the NICU since birth.

Authorities executed a search warrant at the child’s home on Mayberry Drive and interviewed potential witnesses and suspects. Dennis, who had sole custody of the infant, allegedly made “statements indicating she was responsible” for the injuries. The girl died Dec. 31.

Dennis faces charges of first-degree murder and first-degree child abuse. She was booked into the Harford County Detention Center.

Harford County Sheriff Jeff Gahler told WBAL, “It’s heartbreaking to even talk about it, but there was a brain bleed, a fracture in the skull, a broken leg and other serious internal injuries. Here, around the holiday season, to be involved in the case of a murder of a defenseless child, it’s truly a heartbreaking thing for our people.”

According to WBAL, the victim was one of Dennis’ six children.

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