Mother pleads guilty to death of her seven-month-old son

WICHITA FALLS, Texas (KAUZ) – Akilah Boone has pleaded guilty to charges of assault on a child that resulted in the death of her seven-month-old son.

The Wichita County Sheriff’s Office arrested Boone on August 20, 2023, on charges related to an incident in January 2021.

According to the arrest warrant, Boone intentionally or negligently inflicted bodily harm on a child, which ultimately resulted in the child’s death.

The warrant states that on January 21, 2021, WFPD was called to Boone’s home for a report of a seven-month-old boy who was unresponsive. When they arrived, officers found Boone’s thermostat set to 90 degrees and a heater was on in the room where the child was found. The outside temperature that day was about 50 degrees.

First responders later declared the baby had died. Boone told the WFPD’s Crimes Against Children Unit that she had dropped the boy’s father off at work early that morning and then came home and put her baby down for a nap.

She told police she fed him at 11:30 a.m. and then put him back in his crib. She then went back to sleep and woke up to shower and check on her son. At 12:40 p.m., Boone found the baby face down and unresponsive in his crib and called 911.

Several of Boone’s family members told police they saw Boone covering the child in his crib with blankets and sheets and warned them of the dangers of her unsafe sleeping habits.

An autopsy conducted in April 2021 by the Southwest Institute of Forensic Science found that the child had multiple scars on his body and bruises on his head, unusual for a child who had not yet been mobilized. The medical examiner concluded that the cause of death could be asphyxiation, heat stroke or another reason, although this was unrelated to the child’s facial injuries, which indicated physical abuse.

During their investigation, the Department of Family Protective Services said they visited Boone to discuss safe sleeping for young children. Both Boone and the baby’s father were made aware of the dangers of placing blankets and pillows in a sleeping baby’s crib or bassinet.

All rights reserved.