Celeste T. Christian, 21, was charged with attempted murder after trying to drown her 3-year-old son in the bathtub, Chicago police said. Days earlier, she posted her son had died on social media. (Cook County Jail)
Authorities in Chicago this week said a South Side mother falsely wrote on social media that her 3-year-old son had died, then tried to drown him in a bathtub days later.
Celeste T. Christian, 21, was charged with attempted murder as her son remained hospitalized in critical condition, the Chicago Tribune reported.
The child was being treated at University of Chicago Medical Center for asphyxiation and water in his lungs. Police said someone had held the toddler underwater.
Christian told police the child had wet himself after the father dropped him off, and gave him a bath. She claimed she left her son by himself for five to 10 minutes to check on her 2-year-old daughter.
She heard splashing and ran back to the bathroom to find the boy limp in the water, with foam coming out his nose and mouth, and called 911.
An hour before the child arrived at the hospital, a doctor received a call from an organ and tissue donor asking if the boy was there yet, police said. The donor did not reveal who told them the toddler would be there.
When police interviewed the child’s father, he told them Christian had earlier announced on social media that their son had died and wanted to make funeral plans, the paper reported.
Christian was arrested and held without bail at Cook County Jail.
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