A DeKalb County woman accused of drowning her baby was taken into custody Thursday at a Decatur funeral home, officials said.
Shaquila Feaster, 31, of Lithonia, was arrested and charged with second-degree murder, the DeKalb County Sheriff’s Office said in a news release. The charges stem from her child’s death last month, the sheriff’s office said.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Feaster is accused of leaving her infant unattended in a bathtub July 30. Feaster put the child in a tub filled with water, then went downstairs for about five minutes, the warrant said.
The child was taken to the hospital but died days later, the sheriff’s office said.
The girl, identified in the warrant as Ja’Lonnie Small, was 29 weeks old when she died Aug. 4, according to an obituary. Her funeral was Friday morning at Peace Baptist Church in Decatur.
Feaster was booked into the DeKalb jail Thursday evening and remains there without bond, online records show.
Under Georgia law, a person is charged with murder in the second degree when they are accused of causing the death of a child through second-degree cruelty to children, which is based on criminal negligence.
