Get notified by email when this case is updated.
Written by M. Sayle
Published October 29, 2022 @ 10:29 AM ET
Warning: the following story contains descriptions of crimes against children which may be unsuitable for some audiences. Discretion is advised.
Gwinnett County (November 2021) – A 2-month-old baby died last year when an oven was used to heat the house where she was sleeping. This week, the baby’s mother was charged.
In November 2021, Channel 2 Action News reported that Jasmine Walker, age 30, fell asleep on the couch after she turned on her oven and left it open to heat her Norcross apartment. Gwinnett police detective Angela Carter said at a preliminary hearing on Wednesday that the baby was wrapped in layers of clothes and was left in a car seat nearby.
When Walker woke up, Eden Chaneil Dilworth was dead.
“They were having heating issues in the apartment,” Carter told the judge. “There were still parts of the apartment where the temperature was about 89 degrees. The baby got too hot, sweated a lot, and ended up dying because of it.”
Investigators said in court that the baby’s short life was full of hardships. Cocaine was found in her system after she was born, and Channel 2 said that she spent three weeks in a neonatal intensive care unit. The Division of Family and Children Services almost took her away from Walker. Instead, a safety plan was created that said Walker shouldn’t be alone with the baby.
It’s not clear why Walker was alone with the baby at the time of the incident. The news station said that Eden’s father was on his way to Alabama when she died. He has not been charged at this time.
Channel 2 said that the child’s death wasn’t ruled a homicide until August of this year. It’s not clear why it took nine months to complete the autopsy investigation.
Walker faces a murder and child cruelty charge, both in the second degree. If convicted, she faces a maximum prison sentence of thirty years and ten years, respectively.