The family of a woman charged with murder after her 6-week-old son drowned in a pond at a Myrtle Beach outlet mall said she was overwhelmed by the challenges of returning to work as a first-time mom and dealing with an abusive boyfriend.
Jameisha Alexander was seen holding her son, King, near the pond Saturday night by someone who called security. By the time officers arrived, Alexander was gone and the baby was in the water, according to her arrest warrant.
Paramedics tried CPR but the boy died a short time later. Alexander was taken into custody two hours later after being involved in a wreck about 20 miles away, according to a police report.
Alexander, 24, was jailed on a murder charge pending a Tuesday court hearing. The report was partly redacted and police wouldn’t discuss why they think she killed her son.
But Alexander’s family said she was having a rough time, and while joyous, her son’s birth made things tougher.
“She loved that baby with everything she had in her. I think she felt like she just couldn’t do it herself,” Alexander’s mother, Sandra Jones, told The Associated Press by phone from the family’s home in Carrboro, North Carolina.
Alexander had taken maternity leave from her job at McDonald’s to recover from her cesarean section, and was nervous about returning to work, Jones said.
Jones said her daughter was intensely private and proud, pushing away offers to watch the baby or to get her other help. Jones said she discovered only after her daughter’s arrest that Alexander was being seen for depression before and after giving birth.
Alexander hoped her boyfriend of a year-and-a-half would be more supportive after she got pregnant, but instead he moved her to a filthy home 20 miles from her family and went back to doing drugs and abusing her, Jones said.
Alexander’s grandmother was in tears Tuesday, saying her granddaughter just wanted to make everything work.
“All she had to do was talk to me. I always take in whoever needs help. I guess she just felt like nobody cared — when you get to that point,” Melba Jones said, her words dissolving into quiet sobs.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
if you are overwhelmed, give the child to someone who can care for them. Jesus, drowning an infant is not the first or last resort. Appalling.
Guess she thought that black life was to difficult to care for , and didn’t want to be seen as a mother who couldn’t take care of her baby so she quietly got rid of him .. I’m sure she had a black up plan to accuse white people of killing him .. That’s what they do blame it on someone else mentality ..
I don’t bet my life on stuff normally, but I’ll bet my life that this monster will get off Scot free, and that she’ll be able to blame what she did on someone, or something, other than herself. I don’t care what you, or anyone else, says. There is no way in the world this murder can be justified for ANY reason. This case, in my opinion, IS an open and shut death penalty case. I had 2 kids, one of whom died by accident in front of the other, and I cannot imagine any normal circumstance in which I, or any sane person, for that matter,
would would opt to terminate the life(s) of their own children. This is completely unbelievable.
I think selfishness, and the unacceptable (in her mind) quality of life she would be “forced to endure” if she kept and raised the child is what caused her to kill her kid. Yeah, you got it right. It’s probably always been all about herself, to the exclusion of anyone, or anything else, all of her life. I’m not perfect, but I would have a seriously hard time asking God to have mercy on her soul. This is between her and God. I have no say, except to say, His will be done.
Horrendous tragedy/crime…….THIS IS A “”BLACK LIVES MATTER”” ISSUE!!!!!! Where are the protesters? Where’s Obama? “this could be his grandchild”.
Wow! Just another black on black statistic. Too bad this child wasn’t old enough to decide his own fate or let his mother know that his life mattered! I say death penalty!!!
Another list of unacceptable excuses.
Tubal ligation and the right to romp with whomever whenever is what this overwhelmed incubator needs. Who speaks for the dead child? How about an abortion or allow some compassion soul adopt the infant. Oh I forgot! Baby means more government assist.
Mea Culpa