Mother Faces Charge in Death of Infant Boy : Baby Died of Injuries After Being Left With Mentally Disturbed 10-Year-Old Sitter

The mother of an infant boy has been charged with child endangerment six weeks after her son died of severe head injuries he suffered when he was left alone for two days with a 10-year-old baby sitter with serious mental problems.

Officials said Monday that the mother, Brenda McAllister, 24, left the boy at her East San Diego home with no telephone and without leaving her work number, and that the baby sitter, a relative, was mentally unfit to attend to the child.

“This case is so sad,” said Dan Dennis, an investigator in the San Diego Police Department’s child abuse unit. “It sends a message to parents out there: Don’t leave your children alone. Never go out and leave your children alone no matter what the circumstances are. And if you must go out, check out the baby sitter.”

Seven-month-old Ricardo Vaughn McAllister died last month, but officials said the misdemeanor charge was filed just last week because investigators have been unable to conduct a thorough interview with the mentally unstable baby sitter.

‘Should Have Known’

Dennis said the police investigation revealed that Mrs. McAllister “should have known about” the mental problems suffered by her 10-year-old relative before she left the girl alone with the baby.

He said the mother was at first reluctant to discuss the possibility of the girl being responsible for the death. But, he added, “the mother was eventually able to admit that the (relative) was capable of doing something like this.”

“Her own feelings were that she knew (the girl) did it, but didn’t want to say it,” Dennis said. “She said she didn’t have any choice” but to leave the child at home with her relative.

The baby sitter turned 10 years old on the day the child was beaten, Dennis said. Since the boy’s death, he said, the girl has undergone psychiatric evaluation and has been diagnosed as suffering from a dual personality. He said the girl has been placed in a San Diego mental health facility.

Linda Miller, a spokeswoman in the county district attorney’s office, said “the key element of the endangerment charge is leaving a 7-month-old baby with a 10-year-old girl.”

But, she added, “we will have to be able to show that the mother knew the baby sitter was schizophrenic. That’s something that will have to come out in court, whether or not the mother could tell.”

Close Relationship

Dennis said the girl and Mrs. McAllister apparently had a close relationship.

Police were called to the East San Diego home on July 22 and found the infant, Ricardo Vaughn McAllister, bleeding from the nose and mouth.

“We found an hysterical little 10-year-old girl standing in the room and a 7-month-old baby lying on the floor,” Dennis said. “We rushed the baby to the hospital.”

The baby had suffered massive head injuries and died Sept. 7 at Children’s Hospital, Dennis said. A spokesman in the county coroner’s office said Monday that the exact cause of death had not yet been determined and that the coroner’s investigation was continuing.

Dennis said the mother was raising the child alone and that the boy’s father, Marine Sgt. Frank McAllister, was stationed in Japan. Dennis said Mrs. McAllister worked at the Southwest Marine Inc. shipyard.