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DC mother found guilty of murder for death of 16-month-old daughter
WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — A D.C. woman was found guilty of murder Wednesday in the death of her 16-month-old daughter in March 2017.
According to the U.S. Attorney's Office (USAO) for the District of Columbia, 39-year-old Faneisha Scott was found guilty of first-degree murder, first-degree cruelty to children and second-degree cruelty to children.
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Evidence stated that around 2:45 p.m. on March 21, 2017, Scott's friend- and her daughter Rhythm Fields' godmother- went to Scott's home in the 5400 block of C St. SE.
The friend's 8-year-old child asked to play with Rhythm, but the friend found Rhythm in her playpen 'unresponsive and cold.'
Scott went outside and flagged down a mail carrier, who called 911 and went back into Scott's apartment with her.
The mail carrier saw 'Rhythm on the couch, lifeless. The child's body was cold, her body was stiff, and her eyes were fixed,' the USAO said.
The mail carrier remained on the phone with 911 until two others entered to give Rhythm CPR. The USAO said that one of these individuals was an experienced former firefighter who immediately recognized that Rhythm was dead.
Scott told first responders that she hadn't had any contact with Rhythm since 9 a.m.
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The D.C. Medical Examiner's Office did an autopsy on Rhythm's body and ruled in February of 2018 that she had been killed and that her cause of death had been multiple blunt force injuries.
The Medical Examiner's Office listed the following injuries:
Contusions and abrasions of the head, neck, torso and extremities
Subdural hemorrhage
Cerebral edema, subarachnoid hemorrhage and acute hypoxia-ischemia
Retinal and optic nerve sheath hemorrhage
Twenty-three bilateral rib fractures, showing both healing and new fractures
Scott's sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 29, 2025.
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