A 19-year-old St. Paul woman was charged Tuesday with murder for allegedly inflicting fatal traumatic brain injuries on a 5-month-old she was babysitting.
Tyanna J. Graham was charged in Ramsey County District Court with one count of second-degree murder without intent in the Jan. 29 death of the boy, who suffered bleeding in the brain and eyes, bleeding and bruising of the lower left lung and a cut and bruising in the mouth.
According to the complaint: St. Paul police were called about 1:31 a.m. on Jan. 28 to Graham's apartment in the 2200 block of 7th Street W. on a report of a baby who was not breathing. Medics transported the boy to Children's Hospital, where doctors determined that his injuries were intentionally inflicted and had left him with multiple areas of bleeding in the brain.
"The treating doctor believed that the baby had likely been unresponsive for quite a while," the complaint said. "The child's eyes were dilated and fixed and he was completely unresponsive."
A doctor at the Midwest Children's Resource Center determined that the boy probably suffered a blow to the head that likely would have incapacitated him, and that he also suffered trauma to his abdomen.
The infant died the day after police were called to Graham's apartment.
Graham told police that she had been caring for the baby since Jan. 26 because his mother was working in Wisconsin. She allegedly told police that the baby fell from a couch on Jan. 27 between 4 and 5 p.m., and that he cried but seemed fine.
Graham allegedly said that just before she called 911, the baby started to cry and breathe with difficulty, and that a mix of blood and formula was expelled from his nose.
