A White Bear Lake mother faces charges after her 8-month-old baby was found dead on a mattress sleeping with several other children.
Freda Perdue, 33, was charged Friday in Ramsey County District Court with child neglect and child endangerment.
According to the criminal complaint:
Police were called in February of 2013 to the East Metro Place in White Bear Lake on a report of a male infant who was not breathing.
Police found Perdue crying next to the baby, who appeared to have blood around his nostrils. He was taken to St. John's Hospital in Maplewood, where he was pronounced dead.
Perdue told police that the night before she had laid the baby on his back on a mattress where her three other sons and a neighbor boy were sleeping.
She said she found the baby the next morning face up. When she wasn't able to wake him, she started CPR and told one of her sons to call 911.
The neighbor boy said that the baby was in bed with Perdue the night before but he kept crying. When Perdue would not get up, he said they brought the baby into their bedroom and placed him face down on the bed.
