A Southern California mother has been arrested after her 2-year-old son was found unresponsive while she was giving him a bath and later died, according to police.
Officers responded late Monday to a report of a 2-year-old boy who was unresponsive at a home in Placentia, California. There, they found the child in a bathroom, the Placentia Police Department said in a press release.
First responders began life saving measures and the child was transported to an area hospital, where police said he was pronounced dead.
The mother, Melissa Lynn Beisel, 40, was also taken to the hospital with self-inflicted wounds, according to police.
Beisel was allegedly giving her son a bath in a walk-in shower using a plastic storage bin, investigators said. She then walked out of the bathroom to get soap and left the child alone for about two minutes, the investigation found.
When Beisel returned, she said she found the child face down in the bin, unresponsive, according to police.
“The mother began CPR on the child and when it was not effective, the mother harmed herself with a sharp object,” police said.
The mother stayed in the bathroom with the boy for about six hours before she was found by a family member who called 911, according to the investigation.
After her release from the hospital, Beisel was taken into custody on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and child abuse causing great bodily injury, according to police.
Beisel has not yet been arraigned and the boy’s official cause of death has not been revealed because the autopsy has not been completed, police said in a statement.
The incident remains under investigation, according to police.
According to Los Angeles ABC station KABC, the father of the toddler and other children were present at the home when the incident occurred. Those children are currently with their father.
