SALT LAKE CITY — A South Salt Lake woman faces child abuse homicide charges for a February incident in which 10-year-old Braedon Baker had an epileptic seizure and drowned in the bathtub.
According to charges filed Wednesday in 3rd District Court, April Ann Baker, 31, admitted to investigators that doctors warned her not to leave Braedon alone in the bathtub because of his seizures.
Investigators also say a doctor had stressed to Baker in January the importance that Braedon not miss any doses of antiseizure medication.
But an autopsy showed Braedon had gone without his medication for about four days when he drowned.
On the night of Feb. 20, police say Baker told Braedon to take a bath while she and her brother, who also lives in the residence, prepared dinner.
Braedon was alone in the bathroom with the door closed, the brother told police. After about 15 minutes, Baker said she heard a tapping sound that lasted for about a minute, according to court documents. About five minutes later, her brother went to check on Braedon and found the boy underwater and “blue.”
In January, Baker told a doctor that Braedon was having about one epileptic seizure a month, police say.
According to a report police obtained from Primary Children’s Medical Center, Braedon’s antiseizure medication blood level should have been in the range of 50 to 100 micrograms per milliliter, but laboratory results showed it below 5 mcg/ML.
Charging documents did not specify Baker's relationship to Braedon. Child abuse homicide is a second-degree felony.
E-mail: lbrubaker@desnews.com