Shamika Mitchell could face up to 35 years in prison after abandoning her 1-year-old son on Daytona Beach. She was found guilty of aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child by a Volusia County jury last Friday after a three-day trial.
The incident took place on November 8, 2023, while Mitchell was in Daytona Beach from Detroit, according to the Daytona Beach Police Department, as reported by NBC Miami.
Authorities revealed that Mitchell, then 38, was seen on surveillance footage “walking down a beach access staircase with the toddler in her arms just before midnight. Five minutes later, Mitchell comes back from the beach without him.”
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The boy was discovered by a woman at Main Street and Ocean Avenue close to 1 a.m., as indicated by the police department. “She told Daytona Beach Police that he was in the water on his hands and knees, hands buried in the sand up to his wrists and waves were crashing over his head,” authorities reported.
NBC affiliate WESH noted last year that Mitchell’s teenage son called the police that night, worried about his brother.
“She sent my little brother somewhere, she said with his dad,” he told the dispatcher urgently. “I keep telling her to show me proof, proof, but she’s not showing me proof.” Court documents reveal that Mitchell claimed she met with the 1-year-old’s father and handed him the baby.
However, the teen informed the dispatcher that the baby’s father lives in Detroit, leading him to doubt her story. Police reported that she confirmed the toddler’s father was indeed in Detroit.
The teen further told the dispatcher, “I’m telling her to tell me proof because I know that he’s been having these little episodes lately. So, like, I really think my mom is possessed by demons.”
When officers arrived on the scene, they found the baby unresponsive, with an elevated pulse and shallow breathing.
He was taken to Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children, where he recovered.
In the meantime, authorities stated that Mitchell will be sentenced at a later date.
According to Local12, Mitchell had five children in total, aged from 1 to 17.
WJBK reported that the kids were placed into foster care despite their grandmother, Valerie Mitchell, offering to take care of them. Days later, the children were taken out of foster care and placed in the custody of their grandmother.
