Mother Who Put Makeup On Dead Child To Cover Up Wounds Pleads Guilty To Manslaughter

A Washington woman has pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection to the 2020 death of her 11-month-old daughter.

The mother, identified as 28-year-old Tyra Anderson, had reportedly carried the child's body to a hospital, while pretending the baby was alive. Tyra had wrapped the corpse in a blanket, and covered the wounds with makeup before walking "calmly" into the medical facility.

Tyra told the doctors the child, Makenzie Anderson, had fallen from a mattress on Feb. 3, 2020, and started behaving unusually. She then added Makenzie was gasping for air on Feb. 5, and was found unresponsive on Feb. 6. This allegedly prompted Tyra to take her to Children’s National Medical Center, where Makenzie was pronounced dead, a statement released Wednesday by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) read.

A doctor at the hospital, Dr. Joanna Cohen, said the infant died by "non-accidental head trauma."

The autopsy also revealed the child had multiple acute contusions to the face and head, acute skull fractures, a laceration to the upper frenulum, a laceration inside the left ear, pulmonary edema, and hemorrhaging in the bilateral optic nerve sleeve. It was concluded in the autopsy the child died from blunt force trauma, Law and Crime reported.

The child also had "make-up or some type of cosmetic" on her body in a bid to cover up "multiple contusions to the head and face," according to the DOJ statement.

At the time of the child's death, Tyra was residing in the 1600 block of New York Avenue NE -- a hotel which was temporarily serving as a shelter for homeless people. Deputies served a search warrant at the hotel room, and recovered cosmetics from there.

Tyra, however, said she "doesn't wear make-up," Law and Crime reported, citing a police affidavit. "[I]t’s makeup in the room because the kids play with the makeup."

Tyra was arrested on Dec. 4, 2020, following a lengthy investigation, and her formal sentencing will take place on March 31. The prosecutors have agreed Tyra can be released in three years if she has "no future unsupervised contact with children and that she engage in mental health treatment."