A Mom on Vacation in Florida Attempted To Abandon Her 1-Year-Old Son on the Beach

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A Detroit mother on vacation thought she would simply walk away from the responsibility of parenting by abandoning her son on a beach in the early morning hours. Shamika Mitchell, left her 1-year-old son at a Florida beach on November 8, 2023, the State Attorney of Florida’s 7th Circuit claimed.

Surveillance video from the time showed Mitchell walking down the beach access staircase with her son in her arms, just before midnight. Five minutes later, she walked up those same steps alone. 

Mitchell was planning on sleeping in a church parking lot with her children.

Before her walk to and from the beach, Mitchell drove a rented minivan to the St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, The Daytona Beach News-Journal reported. A security guard gave Mitchell permission to sleep in a rented minivan with her children.

Later, that same guard saw Mitchell walk away holding something in a red blanket. When she returned to the van, her other children began yelling at her, asking where their younger brother was. The security guard called the police.

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When police arrived, the child was unresponsive.

A woman near Main Street and Ocean Avenue found the boy around 1 a.m., the Miami Herald reports. She told Daytona Beach police that the child was in the water on his hands and knees. His hands were buried in the sand, up to his wrists and the waves were crashing over his head. When police arrived, they determined the boy was unresponsive.

He was breathing shallowly with an elevated pulse. State Attorney Ashley Terwilleger provided information from medical personnel who found that the boy was lethargic. His skin was blue and his body temperature had dropped down to 87 degrees. He was making noises consistent with fluid being in his lungs. Doctors drained a large amount of water from the child’s stomach.

When questioned, Mitchell told police the boy was with his father.

Authorities took the toddler to the Orlando Health Arnold Palmer Hospital for Children. Doctors intubated him. The child eventually recovered and was released after five days. Later, when questioned about her son’s whereabouts, Mitchell claimed that she left the child with his father at a nearby 7-Eleven, according to The Daytona Beach News-Journal.

She claimed the two were probably on their way back to Michigan by now. “However, officers called the toddler’s father and learned he was in Detroit,” the state attorney said.

A jury found her guilty.

Now, a year later, a jury has found Mitchell guilty of aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child. She did not take the stand doing the three-day trial. The jury deliberated for a little over an hour before they reached their verdict. She didn’t appear to react to the verdict. Instead, she turned to family members in the courtroom before she was led away to the Volusia County Branch Jail.

A judge will  sentence her at a later date. If she receives the maximum sentence for her crimes, she could spend up to 35 years in prison.