Colorado Mom Sentenced After Strangling Newborn While Husband Went to the Bathroom

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New mothers undergo a plethora of changes after welcoming a baby. Not only are they recovering from the physical toll of labor and delivery but they also deal with an onslaught of hormonal fluctuations. Serious mental health issues can happen postpartum, and if not identified and treated, the consequences can be dire.

Sadly, conditions such as postpartum depression or postpartum psychosis claim the lives of new moms and babies every year. Recently, a Colorado woman was sentenced after strangling her newborn following a mental health crisis. And sadly, she sneaked out of the house to kill her baby while her husband went to the bathroom.

In June 2023, police were contacted for a welfare check on Anna Englund after she took her son and drove off.

Police were contacted at roughly 4:30 p.m. June 10, 2023, to do a welfare check on Englund, 31, of Boulder, Colorado, for allegedly having a mental health crisis, 9 NBC News reported. Englund took her 2-month-old son, Miles Basellio, and drove away while the baby's father went to use the bathroom. He told officers he was concerned for the child because of Englund's postpartum mental health.

Englund strangled her newborn because she 'didn't want him to suffer in life' like she did.

Anna Louise Englund from Colorado will spend 40years behind bars for murdering her 2-month-old son, Miles Basellio

She strangled her son while driving and kept him on her lap for hours after. “She didn’t want him to suffer in life like she had”

RIP sweet boy pic.twitter.com/i9Tkr0QJ5F

— True crime - Seeking justice (@downtothewoods) August 8, 2024

Englund drove around with the baby for several hours, during which she strangled him at some point, while police attempted to find them. Authorities located Englund at a hospital with the deceased child. Later, she confessed and told police she had been looking for a place to die by suicide.

A police affidavit indicated that Englund confessed to killing Miles "because I didn’t want him to suffer in life like I have." per the Denver Post. She told police “she was worried about all of the things that could happen” to her baby “because the world was ‘crazy.’”

The Boulder, Colorado, mom previously went to the hospital for suicidal ideation.

Before strangling her son, Englund went to a hospital twice for suicidal ideation, according to court records. Miles' father told 9 NBC News that she stayed a few days each time but that doctors released her. He also informed the news outlet that Englund had postpartum psychosis.

On August 7, Englund pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Englund pleaded guilty as part of a plea deal, according to a Boulder County news release. She pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, and the first-degree murder charges were dropped. She was sentenced to 40 years in prison.

The district attorney released a statement.

“This guilty plea and lengthy sentence is the right result in this very sad case," District Attorney Michael Dougherty shared in a statement via the Boulder County news release. "I want to thank the Boulder Police Department for their tireless efforts and hard work on this investigation."

Dougherty's message continued, "It is heartbreaking to acknowledge the immense emotional toll on the baby’s father and family, as well as all the police officers who desperately tried to prevent this tragic murder. Our prosecution team worked hard to ensure that we were able to secure the right outcome for this defendant, which is a very lengthy sentence to state prison.”