Wisconsin Babysitter Allegedly Tricked Mom Into Believing Her Dead Newborn Was Asleep

WAUSAU, WI — Police claim a Wisconsin babysitter killed a two-month old infant before bundling him up in winter gear and then returning him to his mother.

On January 4, authorities charged Marissa Tietsort, 28, with first-degree intentional homicide for the alleged October 18 incident.

According to a criminal complaint, Tietsort was aware the newborn in her care was dead, but instead of calling for help, she concocted a ruse to make it appear he was just asleep.

The complaint alleged: “Tietsort admitted that she put the [baby’s] lifeless body on the floor in the hallway of her home, dressed him in the snowsuit, and then placed his body in the car seat with his blankets.” She did not “check for a pulse, she did not reach out for help, and she did not perform any resuscitation efforts.”

Tietsort then took the deceased infant and his older brother, who she was also watching, on a trip to McDonalds for dinner after her boyfriend had returned from work.

At the end of her babysitting shift, she handed over the dead newborn, still in the car seat, to his mother when she came to pick him up around 9 P.M. She “thought [the baby] was sleeping, as he would normally be sleeping at that time of the day,” an investigator wrote, adding Tietsort “purposefully put a hat over the [baby’s] eyes so that the … mother would not realize her son was dead.”

The mom brought the child to Northway Coin Laundry, where she finally noticed he was cold, rigid, and not breathing. She called 911 and attempted CPR. Officers responding to the scene observed the child "had an ashen skin tone, his jaw was clenched, and his lips were blue,” read the complaint.

Detectives searching for Tietsort finally located her swimming with her boyfriend and young son at the Plaza Hotel just after 4 A.M. the following morning.

The Wausau Daily Herald reported that an autopsy showed the infant had died from blunt-force trauma with multiple impacts to the head. Forensic pathologist Robert Corliss also noted the baby’s tailbone was "fractured, broken off, and displaced, indicating a significant amount of force was used."

Tietsort, who is being held at the Marathon County Jail in lieu of a $500,000 cash bond, is now also under arrest for a second child-abuse charge stemming from an August incident in which she is accused of injuring an 11-month-old girl she was babysitting. In that case, she claimed the child fell off a couch, resulting in facial injuries.

Records show that Tietsort, who is currently pregnant for the sixth time, had four of her children removed from her care following allegations of abuse in 2010. The courts were reportedly unaware she had given birth to a fifth child.

Tietsort is due to appear in court on January 18.

Read more: Wausau Daily Herald, ABC News