Marissa Tietsort, a Wasau, Wisconsin babysitter charged with first degree murder after beating to death a baby in her charge and returning the child to his mother pretending he was still alive.
A Wisconsin babysitter who allegedly beat a 2-month-old baby boy to death then pretended he was alive when she gave the boy back to his mother has been charged with first-degree intentional homicide.
A criminal complaint filed Friday says 28-year-old Marissa Tietsort of Wausau caused the infant’s death in October, then put him in a snowsuit and car seat and returned him to his mother—without telling her the child was dead.
Authorities found the mother trying to revive the boy, unaware that her son, Riley, had actually died hours earlier of blunt force head injuries from multiple impacts to the head, reported WSAW.
During a court appearance Friday, Judge Jill Falstad issued a $500,000 cash bond for Tietsort and ordered that she have no contact with children or with the victim’s family, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported.
According to the criminal complaint, the mother of the 2-month-old boy dropped him and his older brother off at Tietsort’s home on Oct. 18. When Tietsort’s boyfriend got home that evening, they went to McDonald’s and she brought the dead baby with them.
When the victim’s mother came to pick up her sons later, the infant was in his car seat with a hat pulled down over his eyes. The mother told police she thought he was sleeping. The boy’s mother later realized her son was not breathing, cold, and stiff.
Officers arrived to find the boy had ‘ashen skin tone, his jaw was clenched, and his lips were blue.’ After she gave the boy back to his mother, Tietsort, her boyfriend, and their son went swimming at a local hotel, the complaint noted.
How could Megan Royce and Dylan Baum not be aware of Marissa Tietsort parenting dilemmas?
During investigations, Tietsort told police she did not kill the infant, while conceding not making any efforts to resuscitate him or get him medical help. She said she knew the baby was dead because he was cold to the touch but she did not check for a pulse, according to the complaint.
Riley’s parents, Megan Royce and Dylan Baum said they had known Teitsort for over one year before they let her care for their children.
Of note, Tietsort who is now pregnant with her sixth child, also faces a felony child abuse charge involving an 11-month-old girl who was in her care that was injured in August.
Records also show the babysitter having had her own children removed from her home for alleged child abuse, and that officials were unaware she had given birth to a fifth child or that she was pregnant with a sixth child.
Not immediately clear is how Riley’s parents were not aware of Tietsort’s own parenting dilemmas. Or were they?
Following her indictment, Tietsort requested reduced bail multiple times, writing to a judge and saying, ‘I’m not a threat to society or a monster,’ and ‘I’m a great mom and I love everybody’.
Tietsort is scheduled to be back in court at 1 p.m. on Jan. 18.
