Police: Babysitter dressed dead infant, tried to hide death

WAUSAU, Wis. — A Wisconsin woman will be charged with homicide after police say she killed a 2-month-old infant she was babysitting, then dressed the baby and returned him to his mother.

Marissa Tietsort, 28, was charged Friday with first-degree intentional homicide in the baby's death, the Wausau Daily Herald reported.

According to a criminal complaint, the baby was alive when his mother dropped him and his older brother off with Tietsort on the afternoon of Oct. 18, 2018. Tietsort was aware that the baby died while he was in her care, police said in the complaint. An autopsy showed he died of blunt force trauma to the head.

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Tietsort dressed the baby in winter clothes, strapped him in a car seat and pretended he was alive while driving through McDonald's with her boyfriend, their son, and the victim's other son the complaint said. She later returned the baby to his mother, but allegedly didn't tell her anything was wrong. Tietsort told police she went swimming with her boyfriend later in the day.

The baby's mother told police she thought he was sleeping, police said. The mother soon discovered her baby wasn't breathing and called 911.

Police found Tietsort the next day at a hotel with her boyfriend. She was arrested on a child abuse charge for an unrelated case that happened in August. According to court documents, the father of an 11-month-old girl told police that he believed Tietsort injured his child while she was babysitting her. Tietsort allegedly said the girl fell from a couch.

Tietsort has been investigated for child abuse before and had a restraining order taken out against her by an ex-boyfriend in 2010, the newspaper reported. She is currently pregnant with her sixth child.

Cox Media Group