19-year-old mother high on drugs drowned her 11-month-old baby son while taking a bath with the baby. She was taken into custody on Friday, July 30, and charged with second-degree felony murder and second-degree child cruelty over the death of her 11-month old child. The baby boy is thought to have died after the child’s mother, who was under the influence, fell asleep while taking a bath with the boy.
Authorities say that when the 19-year-old mother, Anslie Nicole Brantley, woke up, she found her infant son had drowned. This unfortunate incident occurred on June 9, when deputies responded to a call about an unresponsive child at a home. The first responders performed CPR on the infant.
Authorities spoke with the suspect’s mother, Kelli Gordon, who told him that Brantley and the child were taking a bath in the upstairs bathroom. When Gordon tried to check on her daughter and the child several times since she had been in the bathroom for some time, but only got mumbled responses that she could not understand so she went back to watching TV.
20 minutes later, her daughter started screaming. Gordon went upstairs and her daughter said ‘he can’t breathe, what do I do.’ Gordon then took the child from her daughter and told the deputy that ‘the boy was blue and real cold.’ The infant was pronounced dead at the hospital later that day. His name is Draiden Shane Nichols and he was 11 months old.
Investigators discovered that the 19-year-old mother from Georgia had taken drugs prior to getting in the tub with her son and fell asleep, allowing him to drown. Her mother, Kelli, was also arrested and charged with possession of narcotics. Brantley was arrested and is being held without bond. This is a developing story and it will be updated as new information become available.