Mother charged with homicide in son’s death
The mother of a 4-year-old boy who was allegedly beaten to death by the woman’s boyfriend was arraigned Thursday on criminal homicide charges.
Heather Forsythe, 27, of Point Marion was initially only charged with endangering the welfare of children in the September death of Trenton St. Clair.
In an arrest affidavit, state police Trooper James A. Pierce alleged that Forsythe was aware of the beatings allegedly meted out by her boyfriend, Patrick Haney, and did nothing to help her son. Haney is already facing a criminal homicide charge, and prosecutors filed notice of their intention to seek the death penalty if he is convicted of first-degree murder.
“Text messages received from Forsythe’s cellphone, sent to Patrick Haney from Aug. 21 to Sept. 13, and interviews conducted with family members and others indicated that Forsythe was aware Haney was physically abusing her son and failed to take any action to protect him or seek medical treatment for his injuries at a time she knew her son was seriously injured,” Pierce wrote.
Fayette County District Attorney Jack R. Heneks Jr. said he feels the charge is warranted.
“These charges are incorporated in the legal theory that what she did was violate her obligations to care for the child, and to protect the child by allowing him to be continually beaten by the defendant, Mr. Haney,” Heneks said.
He said that he believes the homicide charge rises to the level of malice, a necessary element to seek a murder conviction as opposed to a lesser manslaughter conviction.
St. Clair was taken to Ruby Memorial Hospital in Morgantown, W.Va., on Sept. 13, unresponsive and with “extensive and severe bruising over his body,” police alleged.
Dr. Hollynn Larrabee, the emergency room doctor who examined the boy, told police the child’s injuries were suspicious and “definitely non-accidental trauma,” according to an arrest affidavit filed in the case.
The child died of internal injuries due to blunt-force abdominal trauma, according to chief medical examiner Dr. Matrina Schmidt.
Police interviewed Forsythe around 2:45 a.m. Sept. 14. She told authorities that Haney beat the child “over the last few weeks” before his death. Haney, she reportedly told police, slapped the child in the face and back and left him bruised over his whole body. She also told police that Haney “beat and choked her son and is responsible for his death,” Pierce wrote.
She also reportedly told police that she wanted to take the boy to the hospital, but Haney told her if she did, he would go to jail.
Haney told police during a 3:30 a.m. interview that he slapped the boy in the face and smacked him on the back of the head as a form of discipline because he wouldn’t listen.
Forsythe was arraigned before Magisterial District Judge Joseph M. George Jr., who committed her to the county prison without bond. She will face a preliminary hearing at a later date on the homicide charge.