ORLANDO, Fla. — An Orlando woman was arrested Thursday for the death of her son at a local hotel last month.
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Police say 25-year-old Carlisha Anderson called 911 just after 9 p.m. on Tuesday, November 15 from the Intown Suites Extended Stay on Major Blvd. and told dispatchers she’d suffocated her baby.
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Warning: The following story contains graphic details involving the death of a child.
Orlando Fire personnel arrived at the room first and found Anderson kneeling on the floor with a knife in her stomach “down to the handle.”
When paramedics couldn’t convince Anderson to discard the knife, they left the room until police could arrive.
When officers got to the scene, they also pleaded with Anderson to throw away the knife but she continued stabbing herself with it.
Police say they had to deploy tasers on her twice before she threw the knife away and asked to be taken to jail.
According to court documents, it was only after the fire department personnel began tending to Anderson’s wounds that they noticed the lifeless body of a child on the bed next to where she was kneeling on the floor.
Paramedics immediately turned their attention to the child and noted he wasn’t breathing. He was taken to Arnold Palmer Hospital and pronounced dead there just before 10:30 p.m.
Anderson was also taken to the hospital in critical condition and underwent surgery for her injuries.
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When Anderson was interviewed at the hospital the next day, investigators say she claimed she had gone to sleep with the boy and woke up when she noticed he wasn’t moving or talking.
Anderson claimed she found he wasn’t breathing and attempted to resuscitate him, but was unsuccessful.
Police say she told them the unsuccessful attempt to save her son is what prompted her suicide attempt because she “did not want to be without her child.”
On December 1, a medical examiner ruled the child’s cause of death a homicide.
Police haven’t said how old the child was, but noted that at his size of 28 pounds and 36 inches in length, he would likely be able to roll over or move on his own if he were unable to breathe while sleeping.
According to investigators, the evidence suggests Anderson “made a conscious decision” and purposefully killed her son with something that was on the bed.
The responding paramedics also noted that Anderson neglected the child by not calling their attention to the boy when they arrived and delaying their response by several minutes because she wouldn’t discard the knife.
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According to her arrest report, the paramedics said the time delay may have made a difference in their attempt to save the child.
Anderson was booked into the Orange County jail Thursday on charges of second degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, aggravated child neglect, and aggravated assault on a firefighter and law enforcement officer. She’s being held there on no bond.
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