UPDATE: St. John woman accused of suffocating her baby

By Ann Rubin

KSDK -- Police say a mother trying to quiet her baby instead accidentally suffocated him. It happened over the Fourth of July weekend in St. John.

Stacey Johnson told police her son slept better with his pacifier. She explained that she was trying to find a way to keep it in his mouth. Police said how she did it proved to be deadly.

They believe Johnson tied a receiving blanket around her son's head in order to keep the baby's pacifier in his mouth. Police said that caused two and a half month old Tyler Goss to suffocate.

"She just said the child was acting fussy and she was trying to quiet the child down so everybody could sleep," said Captain J.R. Morris of the St. John Police Department.

It happened just before 12:45 a.m. on July4, in the 2900 block of Endicott. Relatives said Johnson had tried this once the week before. But this time, when Johnson went to check on her son, he wasn't breathing.

"I think she did it to keep the pacifier in his mouth. And by tying it around his face and his mouth I don't know if she was in the right state of frame to where she thought it was going to suffocate him," said Teresa Johnson, Stacey's mother.

Stacey did not have a phone, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He went to the house and began CPR, but it was too late. Tyler Goss was pronounced dead at the hospital. Now relatives wish something more had been done to prevent this.

Relatives said Stacey Johnson had a history of depression and bipolar disorder. They said the Division of Children and Family Services had been called to the house several times previously, but nothing had come of it. They honestly don't understand how this could have happened.

"It's hard. It's really hard on me," said Teresa Johnson. "My heart's breaking for my daughter and for my grandson that we're going to have to be burying."

Stacey Johnson has been charged with second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child. She is being held on $200,000 cash-only bond. Funeral arrangements for Tyler Goss are pending.