St. Louis, MO (KSDK) -- The St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney's Office has charged a 30-year-old woman with murder after her 11-month-old daughter died under mysterious circumstances.
"It's a shock to me," said one neighbor. "I just don't believe that she would hurt her children."
But according to Officer Rick Eckhard, a spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Department, the incident happened Thursday at 5:35 p.m. at an apartment complex in the 1600 block of El Tigre Terrace, in the Spanish Lake neighborhood. Police found the 11-month-old unresponsive and rushed her to Christian Northwest Hospital where she was pronounced dead.
The St. Louis County Medical Examiner's Office determined the child's death as a homicide, Eckhard said.
The mother, Latoshia Washington, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. She's being held in the St. Louis County Justice Center on $250,000 bond, Eckhard said.
Washington's three other children, ages 2, 3 and 4, were at the apartment when officers arrived. All three have been placed into protective custody.
KSDK