Last night there was an amber alert for a 2yo girl that had gone missing. I turned on the news this morning and I seriously couldn't believe what I was hearing. This story enraged me. I almost don't want to post it because it's that disturbing but I really just couldn't believe it.

**********

mother is charged with suffocating 2-year-old daughter
police say she stuffed toddler's body inside diaper box in closet of hill district home
friday, january 12, 2007

by torsten ove and moustafa ayad, pittsburgh post-gazette



pittsburgh police last night charged a 25-year-old mother of four with suffocating her 2 1/2-year-old daughter and stuffing her body in a box inside a closet of her hill district home.

Ronda watts initially reported her daughter bryonna missing in the afternoon, but after police conducted a search of her home, they found the little girl dead in the closet of an upstairs bedroom at 2335 reed st. Her body lay in a 2-foot-tall pampers cardboard box with a plastic bag over her head.

Police said the girl, who stood two feet tall and weighed 28 pounds, appeared to have been suffocated.

Ms. Watts was charged with homicide.

During an interview at police headquarters last night, ms. Watts told police that after her two eldest daughters left home for school in the morning, she was home alone with bryonna and her 4-month-old son.

She said that while dressing the girl, the toddler became upset and started crying. Ms. Watts cupped her hand over her toddler's mouth in an attempt to silence her cries and the toddler lost consciousness, police said.

Ms. Watts told police she then grabbed a plastic bag and placed it over the girl's head and then found a box and put her body inside it. She placed the box in a closet on the second floor of the home.

The girl was found fully dressed inside the box, her body still warm, police said.

Cmdr. Thomas stangrecki said the child had "obvious signs of trauma" on her body but would not comment further.

The allegheny county medical examiner's office had not ruled on cause of death.

Allegheny county children youth and families workers removed two other children from the home as police carried evidence from the house.


Police would not discuss a possible motive but believe the mother said that bryonna had disappeared as a cover story.

Officers from zone 2 responded to the house after ms. Watts called 911 at 12:40 p.M. To report the girl was gone from her front porch.

While police dispatchers broadcast a description of bryonna, saying she was wearing pink pants and had beads in her hair, the officers looked through the house.

Explaining that sometimes children play games and that maybe the girl was hiding somewhere in the residence, the officers searched room by room. As the search progressed, police said, ms. Watts became increasingly uneasy. When the officers entered the upstairs bedroom, she became extremely agitated and even grabbed one of the officers.

Police then found bryonna in the closet. She was pronounced dead at 1:52 p.M.

Two lawyers for the mother, giuseppe rosselli and his partner, james sheets, said they had been denied access to their client for more then five hours last night because an officer said the mother had waived her right to have an attorney present. They said they were only allowed three to five minutes with their client.

They said ms. Watts was a caring mother of four who often baby-sat for her sisters' and cousins' children as well.

"there is nothing to suggest that she is anything but a 25-year-old single mother raising four children in a loving manner," said mr. Rosselli.

"she has no prior criminal record."

several female family members, who were at police headquarters while ms. Watts was being questioned and then later charged, swarmed the mother last night as she was led out to a police car headed for the allegheny county jail.

The women, some of whom took turns yelling "we love you co-co," also said they were standing by her. Ms. Watts was crying as she was led around the police parking lot to an unmarked police car.

Two other female relatives were also questioned but were not considered suspects. Police said that ms. Watts' boyfriend, who is also not considered a suspect, was being questioned last night.