A mother who fed her 18-month-old son only vegetables, fruit, and breast milk has been convicted of murdering him. Sheila O’Leary, a 39-year-old resident of Cape Coral, Florida, was found guilty on Tuesday by a jury of first-degree murder in the death of her son Ezra in 2019. The boy died as a result of malnutrition-related complications, and his mother will now spend the rest of her life in prison when she is sentenced on July 25, 2022.
When Ezra passed away in September 2019, physicians discovered that he had not been properly fed for a full week preceding his death. When their son stopped breathing, Sheila, as well as her husband, dialed 911. The father has also been charged with the boy’s death and is awaiting trial, like the mother.
The paramedics responded to the Florida home and discovered it was too late. The skilled lifesavers stated that the eighteen-month-old child died at the scene. When the paramedics checked out the couple’s other children to ensure they weren’t starving like their brother, they discovered he was dead as well.
The cause of death for the boy was unknown until December 2019, three months after his death. The parents were charged with his murder in March 2020, three months after the young man died from malnutrition, because he perished as a result of hunger.
The boy was described as being “extremely thin” by the prosecutors. He was only seventeen pounds when he died and had not received adequate food. The presentation in the Florida courtroom stated that because he wasn’t fed enough, the youngster was constantly crying.
Assistant State Attorney Sara Miller added, “She chose to disregard his cries, she didn’t need a scale to see his bones. She didn’t need a scale to hear his cry.”
The toddler’s mother, who is a US citizen, has been charged with the murder of her own child. The family also had two other children, a five-year-old and a three-year-old, both of whom were underweight. The youngsters were discovered to have yellow skin by health examiners. One youngster’s teeth were deemed unclean due to lack of attention.
In addition to these three children, Sheila had an eleven-year-old daughter from a previous relationship. This youngster’s health was significantly superior to that of her half-siblings. This kid went to her father in another state and was properly fed while with her custodian father.
According to an inquiry, the three severely undernourished children were fed exclusively on mangoes, bananas, avocados, and rambutans. Breast milk was also given to the toddler.
When the father, who was sitting at the table, noticed that Ezra’s breathing had become irregular and he began to struggle to breathe, police said his mother tried to perform CPR on her son. However, rather than phoning for help right away, the parents went back to sleep. When they saw their kid later that day, they discovered that he had completely stopped breathing. It was too late to assist him.
