N.J. mom sentenced to life for killing 17-month-old son by suffocating him with cleaning wipe
11/16/2022 11:35 am PST
CAMDEN, N.J. (TCD) -- A 45-year-old mother was recently sentenced to life in prison for fatally suffocating her 17-month-old son with a cleaning wipe because he was getting in the way of her alleged affair.
On May 10, 2018, Gloucester Township Police officers responded to a home on Marcia Court to a report of an unresponsive child on a lawn. The victim, Axel Reynolds, was later pronounced deceased. The Gloucester/Camden/Salem Medical Examiner’s Office determined the child died of asphyxia, and his manner of death was homicide.
EMS personnel noticed the victim smelled like alcohol. The medical examiner said Axel died when "a wipe containing isopropyl alcohol and detergent was placed over the mouth and nose."
The child's mother, Heather Reynolds, and her then-boyfriend, Jeffrey Callahan, were both initially arrested.
Investigators determined Reynolds held a cleaning wipe over her son's face and suffocated him until he died. During the trial, prosecutors said Reynolds wanted to kill her son because she was having an affair and her son was getting in the way.
Reynolds and her then-boyfriend allegedly planned to kill Reynold's ex-boyfriend, Domenic Caruso, because Caruso reportedly told police about Axel's death.
In July, Reynolds was found guilty of first-degree murder, possession of methamphetamine, and endangering the welfare of a child. The jury determined that Reynolds was not guilty of plotting with Callahan to kill Caruso.
On Nov. 15, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced that Reynolds was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. She was also sentenced to a concurrent term of eight years for endangering the welfare of a child and a four-year term for possession of a controlled dangerous substance.
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