MT. CLEMENS, Mich. – Macomb County officials said a woman has been found guilty of murdering her 7-week-old son, who starved to death even though the mother had received food.
Officials said on Oct. 11, 2020, Shantavia Carolyn-Lalita Hayden, 29, brought her son, A’Mir Griffin, to Children’s Hospital of Michigan in Detroit. The boy was showing signs of rigor mortis and died as a result of being severely malnourished, according to authorities.
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An emergency room physician tried to save the boy’s life, but he had already been dead for a few hours when he was brought to the hospital, officials said.
Investigators said a lack of money nor food was the reason for the child’s death. Hayden had received 16 cans of food from WIC during her son’s life, including seven just three days before he died, officials said. She also received $15,000 in jobless benefits in four months, as well as food stamps and cash assistance from the state, they said.
“It’s despicable that a mother would starve her child to death,” Macomb County Prosecutor Peter Lucido said. “Justice was served today for little A’mir.”
During a two-week trial in September 2022, a medical examiner testified that A’Mir had not been fed for at least seven days.
Hayden was convicted on a charge of second-degree murder. She was sentenced Wednesday (Nov. 23) to 27.5-50 years in prison.