Shaken baby dies, sitter faces murder charge

By Tracy M. Neal Staff Writer tracyn@nwanews.com
Posted on Sunday, March 20, 2005
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/story/bcdr/18557
BENTONVILLE — A baby sitter accused of causing shaken baby syndrome in a 4-
month-old Rogers boy is now being held in the Benton County Jail for capital
murder after the child died Saturday morning at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in
Little Rock.

Police arrested Samantha Anne Mitchell, 30, of Rogers, on Wednesday for battery
in the first degree, class B felony. Her bond was set at $50,000, but Rogers
detectives arrested her Saturday at the jail on a charge of capital murder, a class Y
felony, according to Rogers police Capt. Ron Largent.

Mitchell is now being held in the jail pending a bond hearing on the murder
charge.

According to Largent, detectives were contacted by the hospital and informed

that Dominick Sanders died of his injuries at approximately 7:30 a.m.

According to a probable cause affidavit in the case, the baby was on life support at
Arkansas Children’s Hospital and was dependent on a respirator and medication
to control his blood pressure and heart rate.

Police began investigating the incident March 15 after being alerted by doctors in
the emergency room at St. Mary’s Hospital. The 4-month-old infant was brought
to the hospital after he had seizures. Doctors determined that the seizures were
caused by bleeding and swelling of the brain.

Doctors from Children’s Hospital told police that the infant’s injuries were
consistent with being violently shaken, according to the affidavit.

Reggie Sanders, the boy’s father, told an investigator that Mitchell had been baby
sitting his son for seven days, the affidavit states

Sanders dropped his son off at the sitter’s at 7:45 a. m March 15 and his wife
picked the boy up at 5:15 p.m. Sanders said his wife later called him to report she
thought something was wrong with their son and asked him to come home, the
affidavit states.

When he arrived home, his wife was holding Dominick. Sanders noticed his son
was having a seizure and they took the baby to the emergency room.

According to the affidavit, with the use of a doll, Mitchell told a detective she held
the child face down over her right arm, which is in a cast, while she used her left
hand and foot to try and open the swing to set Dominick in. Mitchell said she was
frustrated by not being able to open the swing and had to set the child down two
or three times, the affidavit states.

During the demonstration of how it happened, the motion the doll went through
during the demonstration caused its head to rock back and forth, according to the
affidavit.

Mitchell denied violently shaking the infant to cause any injuries, the affidavit
states.