A 2-month-old victim of suspected child abuse last weekend died Thursday, Denver police announced.
The mother, 21-year-old Kelsy Newell-Skinner, was arrested on Monday and remains in custody.
Around 11 p.m. Sunday police were called to Children’s Hospital in Aurora, where the baby girl had been transported from Parker Adventist Hospital, according to the arrest affidavit.
The baby was brain dead and had suffered multiple injuries, including severe bruising on her head, a swollen left eye, fractured ribs and suspected bite marks on her left thigh.
The affidavit said that Newell-Skinner had sent text messages around noon on Sunday to her ex-boyfriend, who is also the father of three other children with her, asking him to come to her apartment.
A second text to the ex-boyfriend a few minutes later said that “she must have been very drunk last night because she just woke up and the baby had been beaten,” according to the affidavit.
Another text from Newell-Skinner said “the baby’s head was banged up and her eyes were bruised and swollen shut” and in another she said “she did not even remember last night and she felt horrible.”
The ex-boyfriend arrived at the apartment and said Newell-Skinner told him that she had been drunk and the baby was beaten, though she did not say who beat her.
Later Sunday afternoon, Newell-Skinner’s mother arrived at the apartment at 10700 East Hampden Avenue. Newell-Skinner ran from the apartment.
She had texted earlier that day saying she was depressed and didn’t have any money, her mother told police. Her mother saw the injuries to the child and took her to Parker Adventist Hospital, which then transported her to Children’s Hospital.
The baby’s father told police he had last seen his daughter on Saturday evening at the apartment before he left for work. He told police he stayed at his mother’s house that night because of an argument he’d had with Newell-Skinner.
He said he received a text from Newell-Skinner just before 4 p.m. on Sunday “that she was going to jail,” the affidavit said. He said he learned of the child’s injuries a short while later.
Newell-Skinner has four other children under 5 years old.
