Homeless woman pleads not guilty in baby’s death
A homeless woman accused of starving her 7-week-old baby to death at a skid row shelter last month pleaded not guilty Tuesday to a single charge of child abuse, authorities said.
Ranetta Maxwell, 32, was arrested Monday afternoon by Los Angeles police. Authorities had been searching for Maxwell since prosecutors decided to file the charge two weeks ago.
Coroner’s officials said Maxwell’s daughter, Jasmine, weighed only 4 pounds when she was found dead Aug. 10 at the Union Rescue Mission, where she had lived since her birth. The coroner’s office ruled her death a homicide, saying that the child died of starvation, dehydration and neglect.
The week of her death, a shelter worker called the county’s child welfare agency and expressed concern about the baby’s dwindling size. A social worker visited the mother and child at the shelter the day before the baby’s death and described Jasmine’s face as “narrow and skinny” in her report.
The Department of Children and Family Services is investigating why the social worker did not follow through on an order to take the baby to a doctor but instead went home after a long shift without a break.
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