MILWAUKEE, WI - A woman is now facing felony charges after police reportedly found her 10-month-old daughter's decomposing body in her apartment.
The mother, 28-year-old Shyanna Brothers, has been charged with hiding the corpse of a child after police found her 10-month-old daughter, Rayne Taylor, dead and decomposing in a cardboard box in the locked bedroom of her apartment, PEOPLE reported this past Saturday.
Investigators said they responded to Brothers' apartment on Wednesday, August 13th, following a report of a foul smell. Initially, she told police the odor was from old food. However, a newly filed criminal complaint states that Brothers, who was alone in the home, eventually told officers, "He has me hiding her in there," and pointed to a locked bedroom door, 29News reported.
"Officer Wright informed the defendant that the defendant was reported saying to others that her baby was gone. The defendant responded, 'Yeah people lose kids. I lost a child,'" according to the criminal complaint. "The defendant claimed that she was saying 'the baby is gone' because the defendant was going through a lot."
Inside, police found her daughter's decomposing body in a "large cardboard box in the center of the floor" surrounded by flies and maggots. Brothers allegedly told police at the scene that "he", her alleged boyfriend, killed the child and then threatened to hurt her too if she called the authorities, according to Law & Crime.
Police, however, were allegedly unable to find any evidence of a male being present or living at the residence. "There was no furniture inside the apartment," the complaint notes. "Inside a bedroom located to the east of the kitchen there was an air mattress and a television. In the bedroom located north of the bathroom, there was a large cardboard box that contained the body."
Police said the child was in an "advanced state of decomposition and was beyond recognition," per the complaint. "Bodily fluids from [the child's] body were soaking the bottom of the cardboard box," the document says.
Investigators have yet to determine the baby's cause of death, but the medical examiner did document evidence of blunt force trauma to her head. A neighbor said she never saw Brothers with a baby, but noticed her spending a lot more time outside of her apartment in recent weeks.
She also that Brothers told her it was so stinky in her house, she couldn't stay inside. Detectives said that during their interview with Brothers, the woman made several incoherent statements and comments as if she "was talking to someone else."
She claimed she was "raped in there and forced to hurt my kid and hide the body." She alleged that people were going "in and out" of her apartment "raping me and stealing from me," the complaint adds. "He's going to prison for this, he thinks he is a genius," Brothers told cops. "It may look like it's me, but I'm going to be exonerated."
During a court appearance over the weekend, a commissioner requested a competency examination of the mother. Police said that they are not seeking any additional suspects at this time. She is being held on a $50,000 bond and awaiting the results of a mental health evaluation.
The mother, 28-year-old Shyanna Brothers, has been charged with hiding the corpse of a child after police found her 10-month-old daughter, Rayne Taylor, dead and decomposing in a cardboard box in the locked bedroom of her apartment, PEOPLE reported this past Saturday.
Investigators said they responded to Brothers' apartment on Wednesday, August 13th, following a report of a foul smell. Initially, she told police the odor was from old food. However, a newly filed criminal complaint states that Brothers, who was alone in the home, eventually told officers, "He has me hiding her in there," and pointed to a locked bedroom door, 29News reported.
"Officer Wright informed the defendant that the defendant was reported saying to others that her baby was gone. The defendant responded, 'Yeah people lose kids. I lost a child,'" according to the criminal complaint. "The defendant claimed that she was saying 'the baby is gone' because the defendant was going through a lot."
Inside, police found her daughter's decomposing body in a "large cardboard box in the center of the floor" surrounded by flies and maggots. Brothers allegedly told police at the scene that "he", her alleged boyfriend, killed the child and then threatened to hurt her too if she called the authorities, according to Law & Crime.
Police, however, were allegedly unable to find any evidence of a male being present or living at the residence. "There was no furniture inside the apartment," the complaint notes. "Inside a bedroom located to the east of the kitchen there was an air mattress and a television. In the bedroom located north of the bathroom, there was a large cardboard box that contained the body."
Police said the child was in an "advanced state of decomposition and was beyond recognition," per the complaint. "Bodily fluids from [the child's] body were soaking the bottom of the cardboard box," the document says.
Investigators have yet to determine the baby's cause of death, but the medical examiner did document evidence of blunt force trauma to her head. A neighbor said she never saw Brothers with a baby, but noticed her spending a lot more time outside of her apartment in recent weeks.
She also that Brothers told her it was so stinky in her house, she couldn't stay inside. Detectives said that during their interview with Brothers, the woman made several incoherent statements and comments as if she "was talking to someone else."
She claimed she was "raped in there and forced to hurt my kid and hide the body." She alleged that people were going "in and out" of her apartment "raping me and stealing from me," the complaint adds. "He's going to prison for this, he thinks he is a genius," Brothers told cops. "It may look like it's me, but I'm going to be exonerated."
During a court appearance over the weekend, a commissioner requested a competency examination of the mother. Police said that they are not seeking any additional suspects at this time. She is being held on a $50,000 bond and awaiting the results of a mental health evaluation.
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