CORNELIA, Ga. -- The caller tells dispatch his infant daughter isn't "acting right." Later, the child died at the hospital and her mother, Elba Maureen Santiago, has been charged with murder.
This happened on April 2 when Cornelia Fire and Habersham County EMS responded to calls about an unresponsive infant at the AppleTree Inn. Once on scene, the crews transported the child to the Northeast Georgia Medical Center and the decision was made to have her life-flighted to Scottish Rite-Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.
A man, who identifies himself as the child's father, called 911 from a motel room. In the call, obtained by 11Alive, he frantically begs the dispatcher for help, as a child cries in the background.
CALLER: My newborn is not responding ... She is closing her eyes. I'm trying to keep her awake.
911: She is passing out?
CALLER: She doesn't have any strength. You all get here now or I'm loading her in the car ... she doesn't feel right.
911: Ok.
CALLER: She doesn't feel right. She keeps closing her eyes.
911: Ok. Ok. Listen. She is probably having a seizure. Ok. If she's shaking, she's probably having a seizure.
CALLER: Nothing happened to her I promise ... my wife called me and she said my daughter's eyes weren't straight.
911: Ok.
CALLER: F---ing cops. Now we have cops here.
911: That's ok. They can get there sooner, sometimes. That's fine. '
Authorities determined that the baby suffered from trauma consistent with child abuse and she died because of her injuries.
Santiago, 25, has been charged with murder, cruelty to children in the first degree and two counts of aggravated battery.
OTHER STORIES: