Inset: Ryan McMilleon (Columbus Police Department). Screenshot: Ariel Simmons during a court hearing (WTVM).
A 6-week-old boy is dead and his parents are in jail after Georgia cops determined they are responsible for his death.
A report was received by the Columbus Police Department at approximately 12:45 p.m. on March 2 concerning an infant who was found with bruises and showing no signs of breathing, as stated in a press release by the department. Law enforcement officers indicated that the child was swiftly transported to the hospital.
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During a court session filled with intense emotions, Columbus police Investigator Bethany Thompson mentioned on Friday that medical professionals instructed the nurses to halt CPR attempts as the baby had already entered rigor mortis. This was reported by the local ABC affiliate WTVM.
Simmons openly wept as Thompson laid out the state’s evidence against her and her boyfriend.
Thompson pointed out that the child appeared to have turned blue in the facial area and chest. It was disclosed that the infant, whose identity has not been made public, had been sharing a sleeping space with his parents, identified as 27-year-old Ryan McMilleon and 31-year-old Ariel Simmons.
“Ryan stated that Ariel was still asleep when he had woken up, and he had asked where the baby was, looked over and noticed a blanket was over the baby’s head,” Thompson testified. “Ryan stated when the blanket was pulled off the baby, the baby was lying flat on a Boppy, a pillow used for nursing, and it was around the baby’s head.”
Simmons’ attorney Keyanna Marshall said it appears the death occurred when her client and McMilleon were co-sleeping with the infant.
“I think that it came out in court today that the bruises that the baby did get are consistent with co-sleeping. It was truly an accident,” Marshall told WTVM.
But complicating matters for McMilleon and Simmons is the fact that the infant came wrapped in a sweatshirt that contained a pill bottle with methamphetamine inside, cops allege. The bottle had Simmons’ name on it, according to police. Cops initially arrested McMilleon on possession of methamphetamine and Simmons on an outstanding warrant.
After more than two weeks of investigating, detectives arrested the parents on charges of second-degree murder and cruelty to children. Both remain at the Muscogee County Jail.
McMilleon’s mother told a judge her son would never intentionally hurt his child.
“He loved his kids very much,” she said.
