Brittany Marie Wiest (Photo : Photo distributed by SMYRNA POLICE DEPARTMENT)
A 21-year-old exotic dancer identified as Brittany Marie Wiest from Tennessee was arrested and has been charged with murder as her two-month-old son, identified as Anakin Leroy-Michael Wiest, died allegedly due to hunger ten months ago.
Brittany is scheduled to have her court hearing on Feb. 17 and is being held at the Rutherford County Adult Detention center at a US$100,000 bond and on charges of aggravated child abuse and aggravated child neglect aside from murder.
According to the Mirror, Anakin died on April 8, 2014 as he was found unresponsive in the home of his mother. Michael Withers, the lover of Brittany back then but is not the father of the child, was the one who called 911 to report the incident.
The police officials arrived at the scene and the two-month-old baby was already dead and appeared to be really skinny. In a report by Fox17, police noted that the boy has weighed only six pounds upon birth but weighed even less at around five pounds after 59 days of living with his mother.
Detective Rick Hall, who handled the case, said that the mother had no clue at all as to why her baby has passed away. An autopsy has then been conducted after a few months and it was determined Anakin has starved to death and dehydration. His death was then ruled as a homicide.
Authorities have said in a statement that upon arrest, Brittany was already pregnant with her third child and is already 24 weeks along. According to Steve Anderson, the boyfriend of Brittany and the father of the unborn child, has dated her back in July and was chocked to know about Anakin's death.
Anderson said in a statement, "Up until yesterday, Brittany and I both thought the child died of SIDS. I wasn't in the picture back then. My main priority is the welfare of my child and my main goal is getting custody of my baby girl."
The first child of Brittany is a two-year-old girl but has not been living with her as she is in state custody. Authorities claim that she has been investigated in the past regarding the neglect of her eldest child.
