Bereaved Mother Says Babysitter Threw Her 11-Month-Old Baby Against The Wall

KEY POINTS

Kimora Hodges was looking after the baby while his mother was at work
She called and informed the mother that the boy seemed unwell
The woman later admitted to cops that she abused the infant

Roseville, Michigan -- A 21-year-old woman in Michigan was arrested for allegedly injuring an infant that she was babysitting.

The 11-month-old baby boy passed away about a week after suffering the abuse.

Kimora Launmei Hodges was taking care of the infant named Kyrie between 3:30 p.m. and midnight on June 13 at a home in Roseville. The neighbor had been babysitting Kyrie on and off for about two months before the incident, officials said.

While the mother, Taylor Starks, was at work, the babysitter called her and said the boy didn’t seem normal. Starks then called 911, and an ambulance arrived to take the mother and child to the hospital, WDIV Local 4 reported.

The child was found suffering from severe head trauma and was taken in for emergency surgery. Cops were called to the hospital on June 14.

Police said in a Wednesday update that Kyrie succumbed to his injuries after spending about a week in the hospital.

Hodges was arrested and admitted to investigators that she physically abused the deceased infant.

The boy’s mother claimed Hodges had thrown Kyrie against a wall and shook him while the boy was in her care, according to Law & Crime.

Starks also revealed that the babysitter initially told her that her son ate soap and was having an allergic reaction. When Starks arrived at the house, she found her baby boy on the ground having multiple seizures.

By the time they reached the hospital, Kyrie had no brain activity, the mother added.

“I left him w [sic] someone I thought I could trust and she beat him badly. My baby had blood force trauma to the head & was bleeding out of his ears because his brain was swelling so badly that he needed brain surgery right away,” Starks wrote on a GoFundMe fundraising page.

“She tried to lie to me and tell me it was an ‘allergic reaction’ to him ‘eating soap’ and i believed her until the doctors told me otherwise,” she went on to say.

Roseville Police Chief Ryan Monroe said Hodges was “very cooperative and very regretful remorseful for her actions. But it obviously doesn’t take it back.”

Hodges was initially charged with first-degree child abuse. Her charges may be upgraded in light of the boy’s death.