Mackenzie Rose Colgan, Chevy Chase, Maryland mom & therapist charged with drowning 3 month old daughter in bathtub after waking up and deciding she wanted to end it all.
A 37-year-old Maryland woman has been arrested in the alleged drowning death of her 3-month-old daughter in a bath at a Chevy Chase residence over the weekend.
Mackenzie Rose Colgan called 911 and said she had killed the baby, Montgomery County Police said. First responders arrived and took the child to a hospital, but the baby was ultimately pronounced dead.
A probable cause statements says that Colgan took the baby girl upstairs to bathe her just after 11:30 a.m. on Sunday, according to Law&Crime. About 20 minutes later, Colgan came downstairs and said the baby was dead. The child’s father told Colgan to call 911 and ran upstairs to give the baby CPR.
In an interview with detectives, Colgan reportedly said that she woke up Sunday morning with a plan to ‘end everything’ — she was going to kill both her children and her husband, she said.
When she took the infant upstairs, she said she filled a baby bath with water and then put that into a larger tub.
‘She then said that she turned the baby to face away from her and held the victim’s head under the water until she knew the victim was dead,’ police wrote in the affidavit.
Then, she said, she went to a bedroom and planned to jump out of a window. Once she got onto the ledge, however, she changed her mind and went downstairs, where she told her husband what she’d done.
Colgan, a licensed counselor, is slated to undergo a mental health evaluation for competency prior to her first court appearance. A bond hearing for the mom is scheduled for Dec. 16. A preliminary hearing is set for Jan. 3.
Colgan has been charged with first degree murder according to the Montgomery County Police Department.
An autopsy slated for Monday was set to officially determine the victim’s cause and manner of death.
Was Chevy Chase, Maryland mom suffering from PostPartum Depression?
Maryland records show Colgan is a licensed clinical professional counselor.
Not immediately clear is whether Colgan was in the grips of a severe depression known to afflict new mothers, aka postpartum depression.
An understanding of what causes postpartum depression and what could lead a mother to harm her own children centers on the notion that a dramatic drop in hormones following recent childbirth (specifically estrogen and progesterone levels) can in some women trigger depressive episodes.
Along with underlying emotional issues, genetics and whether the birth mother has had a prior history of depression, a woman who has given recent birth could suddenly find herself dealing with manic depressive episodes.
Why that in turn could lead to a mother harming her own children continues to remain unknown.
According to the mayoclinic, ‘Untreated postpartum depression can last for months or longer, sometimes becoming an ongoing depressive disorder. Mothers may stop breastfeeding, have problems bonding with and caring for their infants, and be at increased risk of suicide. Even when treated, postpartum depression increases a woman’s risk of future episodes of major depression.’
