4-Year-Old Allegedly Died of Severe Burns Sustained in Bath, Then Mother Took Lyft to Dump His Body

A Baltimore mom and her partner have been charged after her son allegedly sustained severe burns in a bath and died.

Alicia Lawson, 25, initially reported her 4-year-old son, Malachi, missing to police on Aug. 1 and police began a search for the boy.

Police said Lawson told them the boy disappeared from his grandmother's front doorstep. It wasn’t until two days that Lawson allegedly confessed that her son was dead, police said.

She allegedly led police to the boy’s body, which was in a dumpster inside of a trash bag, according to court documents obtained by CNN.

Lawson allegedly told police that she and her partner, Shatika Lawson, were bathing her son on July 23 after he’d had an accident. They were allegedly washing his clothes in the sink while he was in the tub.

When the couple turned around, the boy had suffered bad burns to the lower half of his body, court documents said. The burn were allegedly so severe, the boy's skin was floating in the tub next to him, according to the documents.

Alicia said they didn’t call police because they were afraid the child would be taken away. Instead, they allegedly treated the wounds themselves.

But when Alicia woke up on Aug.1, she said Malachi was lying in a “puddle of wetness" and she thought he was dead, court documents said. Alicia said she put her son in a trash bag and took a Lyft took dump his body, police said.

“From the time of the child’s injury to the fabricated call to 911, neither Alicia or Shatika sought medical treatment for the child, instead seeking to hide his injuries for the sake of their own well-being, which resulted in his [Malachi’s] death,” according to court documents.

An autopsy showed Malachi's injuries were consistent with what Alicia told police, though when cops tested the water at the house on Saturday, the temperature never rose above lukewarm. 

The couple has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, reckless endangerment, first-degree child abuse, giving false statements and tampering with evidence.They are being held without bail. They have not entered pleas yet. 

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