Mother charged in death of 4-month old son in midtown Toronto
Posted November 20, 2024 1:19 pm.
Last Updated November 21, 2024 9:51 pm.
A mother has been charged in the death of her four-month-old son after the infant was reported missing and found with unknown injuries in the Eglinton Avenue and Allen Road area.
Police were called to a Toronto Community Housing building on Roselawn Avenue near Marlee Avenue just before 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday for an infant reported missing by his father.
Officers responded quickly to a residential building, where the baby boy was found and transported to the hospital with critical injuries. He was pronounced dead in the hospital.
On Thursday, authorities said the infant’s mother, 30-year-old Karessa Edwards, has been charged with failing to provide the necessities of life.
Authorities would not comment on whether the infant lived in the building or where in the building they were found. The homicide unit continues to monitor the investigation, police said.
Councillor Mike Colle (Eglinton-Lawrence) was on the scene on Wednesday and said support is available for the staff and tenants.
“Toronto Community Housing already talked to Mr. Sean Baird, the CEO. They’re putting support here for the staff, the supervisory staff, and the tenants to get counselling support. That’s already underway,” said Colle.
“It’s just incredibly awful, bad, terrible, terrible news when you hear a four-month-old baby that has died right here; it is a punch in the gut.”
Colle noted that the building’s tenants are predominantly seniors.
Linda, who has lived in the building for three years, tells CityNews she was heading down to do her laundry when she saw several police officers and learned what happened.
“It’s terrible… When I think about it, because I have grandchildren, and I couldn’t imagine, I couldn’t imagine,” she told CityNews.
The woman said seeing police in the building is not an uncommon occurrence.
“I don’t want to live here anymore. My car got broken into. They got the fella on tape, arrested him, and apparently, he’s out already,” she explained. “The back door is unlocked. The locks are not fixed. There’s quite a few things that are looked over here.”
