Sheriff: Mother arrested after 6-year-old beats newborn to death

Gualtieri said that Steele, who once appeared on the show “I’m Pregnant and 55 Years Old”, had left the baby alone in a van with her six and three year-old sons while she went into a cell phone store to have her cell phone repaired.

Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said the mother, Kathleen Steele, 62, had gone inside the cell phone store on August 8 to have her broken phone repaired and left the three children in the van with the windows rolled up and the van turned off.

Gualtieri described the scene as one of the worst things he had ever seen.

The boy had replaced his sister in her vehicle seat and told his mother it was serious when she returned from running errands but it was another two hours before she sought medical advice, calling a neighbour, who is a nurse, for help. The child was taken to St. Petersburg General Hospital, where she was officially declared dead.

WFLA-TV in Tampa reported that the 6-year-old notified his mom the infant was hurt, but she drove away – stopping for 30 minutes at a auto rental location before continuing home.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that people have told detectives that she didn’t care for the children properly. “Her appearance was one of just a kid that had been pummeled”.

He said that the child took his sister out of her carseat and began beating her to make her stop screaming. “Her face had just been pummeled”. He is now in the care of Department of Children and Families and will be placed in foster care.

Days later, a seemingly frazzled Steele took the three children to a pediatrician amid concerns the 13-day-old baby wasn’t eating.

All three of the 62-year-old’s children were conceived through in vitro fertilization, police said. Her attorney Robert Love said he wouldn’t contest the state’s order for Steele to have no contact with children 18 or younger. He and his younger brother are in DCF custody.

Officer Gualtieri said the nurse immediately realised the little girl was dead but desperately tried to perform CPR on the baby before paramedics arrived. The sheriff said during the first hour, Steele never asked about the baby and even seemed aloof.

The elder Kathleen traveled to New York City late previous year to have a doctor perform the artificial insemination that resulted in the baby’s birth, Gualtieri said. “The baby was simply beaten, traumatized, gross swelling about her face. Her skull was cracked in numerous places”.

The mother disregarded him, the sheriff said. But even so, Bob said the mother didn’t call 911. When she went into the store, deputies said, she locked the children in the auto, rolled the windows up and turned the vehicle off.

“I’m telling you this kid’s face was a mess”, Gualtieri said.

“By numerous witness accounts, Kathleen Steele was an inattentive parent and (the boys) were largely unsupervised and had very serious behavior issues”, the sheriff said.

The school district says the first grader will not be returning to Lakewood Elementary. Steele was scheduled to be evaluated on August 1 by investigators, but had rescheduled for this coming Wednesday.

Steele was also under investigation by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office Child Protection Investigation Division at the time. According to Gualtieri, Steele was considering having another child.

Gualtieri said authorities received a complaint on August 2 that Steele’s children were being inadequately supervised.