Carlisha Maria Anderson
A mother was formally charged on Thursday with murdering her young son. According to cops, defendant Carlisha Maria Anderson, 25, called 911 from a hotel on Nov. 15, to say “she killed her baby by suffocation,” according to the partially redacted affidavit for an arrest affidavit.
From the investigation summary:
On November 15, 2022, the Orlando Police Department received a 911 call from a female caller who stated that she had killed her baby. The call was ultimately transferred to the Orlando Fire Department by OPD dispatch, where the caller continued to say that she had killed her baby. While OFD dispatch was on the line with the 911 caller, later identified as Carlisha Anderson, stated that the baby was not hers and was an abomination.
Officers said firefighters arrived first at the scene, but Anderson was holding a knife inside the room. Those first responders backed off for police to arrive, according to the affidavit. When officers did, they told Anderson to drop the knife.
“Carlisha began stabbing herself multiple times,” cops said. Officers tased her. She dropped the knife, and they handcuffed her, they said.
While first responders worked on saving her life, they found a young boy in the room, they said. Firefighters took him to the hospital but a doctor pronounced him dead.
Defendant Anderson, in critical condition, was taken in for surgery.
She later suggested to police that her son was accidentally smothered with a pillow while they were sharing a bed, according to the affidavit.
From cops:
“I don’t know, my baby, my baby was acting like something was wrong with him.” She continued, ”He was in the bed, and I think I have too many pillows. I just got off work, and he was sleeping, I don’t know <inaudible> to, then he just stopped breathing.” She added, “Before I called the police, I got a knife and stabbed myself. I tried to resuscitate him, and he couldn’t come back. I love him so much. I love him.”
Anderson is charged with a count each for second-degree murder, aggravated manslaughter of a child, and aggravated child neglect in her son’s death. She also faces aggravated assault on a firefighter and aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer for allegedly holding off first responders with a knife.
[Mugshot via Orange County jail]