Woman Allegedly Tries To Drown 3-Year-Old After Posting Toddler’s Funeral Plans Online

A Chicago woman allegedly tried to drown her three-year-old son in a bathtub earlier this week, days after falsely posting online that the latter had died.

Celeste T. Christian, 21, who lives in South Shore, Chicago, told authorities that she drew the baby a bath on Sunday and left him alone for five to 10 minutes to go check on her daughter. When she heard splashing noises coming from the bathroom, she rushed back and saw him “limp’’ in the water, with stiff legs and foam coming out of his mouth.

She said she wasted no time in calling the emergency helpline and added that she did not know CPR. The paramedics arrived and rushed the toddler off to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was treated for asphyxiation and water in his lungs.

Incidentally, a doctor at the facility told the police that Gift of Hope, an Illinois and Indiana-based non-profit organization providing organ and tissue donation services, had contacted the hospital, saying they had information that a potential donor, matching the description of the victim, was supposed to come in.

When inquired, they refrained from mentioning where they had gotten the tip from. A Gift of Hope spokeswoman Shauna Schuda told Chicago Tribune that the organization normally receives information about potential donors from hospitals around the area and not the other way round. Nor do they receive such tips from families of the donors.

According to the Chicago police, the victim showed signs of being held underwater for a long time. The toddler’s father, whose name was not released, said his wife had posted funeral plans of their son on social media recently.

He added that Christian’s sister had kept screenshots of the Facebook posts as evidence.

Christian was arrested and charged with attempted murder by the police. She is being held without bail.

Illinois Department of Children and Family Services has also gotten involved in the case and spokesman Neil Skene said authorities are looking into possible torture of the victim by the suspect as well as “substantial risk of physical injury or environment injurious to health and welfare.”

On probing deeper, the agency found that Christian was the subject of three investigations between October 2016 and December 2017.

“She was indicated in all three investigations for posing a risk of harm to her children, but in none of the cases was there a finding of actual physical harm to a child,’’ Skene added.