Duquesne mother charged with homicide in death of 3-month-old son

DUQUESNE, Pa. — A 3-month-old boy in Duquesne allegedly died at the hands of his mother.

Alisha Parker was arraigned early Thursday morning on homicide charges.

“It’s just sad,” Duquesne resident James Manns said. “It’s sad. You try to figure out what makes it happen. I don’t know what it would be.”

According to the police report, Parker was with her 3-month-old son, Dai’von, and her 3-year-old daughter at their home on Hemlock Alley Saturday night.

Parker’s cousin and 18-month-old son had just moved in with them and Parker was watching the young boy while the cousin was at work.

Not long after Parker’s cousin got home from work, police say the cousin found Parker’s son, Dai’von, in a bedroom unconscious and “stiff to the touch and purple in color.”

The cousin immediately called 911.

“It’s horrible. It’s very horrible,” a neighbor told Channel 11 News, asking to remain anonymous.

Just after 2:00 a.m., paramedics tried to revive young Dai’von, but he died at the hospital.

According to the medical examiner, he suffered blunt force trauma to the head, bruising, and a skeletal fracture.

The cause of death was ruled a homicide.

Police say Parker had been drinking tequila.

They interviewed her and police paperwork claims she tried to blame her son’s death on the baby boy’s 3-year-old sister.

The medical examiner ruled, “Given the extent of the injuries, the injuries were inflicted by an adult and could not be inflicted by a 3-year-old.”

Police say Parker was the only adult home at the time.

She’s being held in the Allegheny County Jail without bond.

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