BREMERTON, Wash. — A 27-year-old mother has been charged with attempted murder after her 8-week-old infant was taken to the hospital and was found to have had broken and fractured ribs and legs, and a brain bleed, according to court documents.
On Aug. 7, police said a child was taken to Virginia Mason Franciscan Emergency Room for projectile vomiting and diarrhea. Multiple scans conducted on the infant showed the severity of her internal injuries.
Due to the severity of the internal injuries, she was rushed to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital via ambulance.
“Children’s ribs are flexible and difficult to fracture... the presence of multiple rib fractures is strongly suggestive of child abuse,” a doctor who examined the infant at Mary Bridge said in court documents.
According to court documents, the doctor went on to say that the injuries caused to the child’s legs, ribs and brain occur “when the extremity is pulled or twisted forcibly. They can also occur when a child is forcibly shaken. Metaphyseal fractures do not occur with routine care and handling of an infant. They do not occur from kicking or impacting a hard surface. Metaphyseal fractures are highly associated with child abuse.”
Both the child’s mother, 27-year-old Shannon McNease, and the father “denied any intentional wrongdoing and were adamant that neither partner had done anything abusive,” according to court documents.
Both had “attempted to rationalize the injuries by stating that the ‘cat jumped on her one time’” and that she was accidentally dropped, according to court documents.
A doctor determined the child had “non-accidental trauma.”
During the investigation, detectives learned that Shannon had an “online conversation with a friend revealing homicidal intent toward the infant,” Bremerton police wrote on their Facebook page.
“Like I legit want to shake her to death or throw her on top of the floor so hard she dies. Only when she’s crying and screaming though, which I guess is almost pretty much all the time at this point. Her cries make me feel like I’m gonna snap and murder,” she wrote in a Facebook message to a friend, according to court documents.
In messages to the child’s father, she wrote: “She’s back on her BS again” and “I can’t stand her dude,” court documents said.
According to court documents, she told police that she wrote those messages, but that she didn’t mean them. She told police that she has depression and anxiety and has been struggling with post-partum depression, saying she was in a constant state of “mental and emotional distress.”
In messages to the same friend, she also wrote: “It’s not like I hate her. I’d die for her dude. But the stress is eating my f*****g sanity to bits. Faster and faster every day,” according to court docs.
“[She] is the realest and truest love of my life. I adore her down to her bones. I really do. I love her so f****** much. And when she’s not crying and screaming, she’s blissful as f***. She has the most beautiful, gentle, soulful eyes. She’s so f****** sweet,” another message read, according to court documents.
The child’s grandparents say McNease doesn’t “cope with multiple things coming at her all at once. At all. She can’t handle that, it has to be one thing and she has to be able to process it,” court documents detail.
The infant is now in the care of her grandparents.
It’s unclear if the child’s father will face charges for her injuries.
McNease has been charged with first-degree attempted murder and first-degree assault of a child.
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