Mother Indicted for Murder After Toddler's Body Was Spotted in River During Firefighter PSA
A mother from Georgia has been charged with murder after she allegedly concealed her toddler's death by placing him in a river in late June.
Breyanla Lachuan Cooper, 27, of Stone Mountain, was arrested July 1—just hours after her son Faheem's body was found in the Chattahoochee River in Cobb County. Cooper was initially charged with concealing the death of another person. Police said she hindered investigators' ability to determine if the death involved foul play, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
Late last week, Cooper was indicted by a grand jury on four felony counts: malice murder, felony murder, aggravated assault, and concealing a death. The indictment says she allegedly "did unlawfully, will malice forethought, cause the death of Faheem Cooper, a human being, by asphyxiation, contrary to the laws of said state, the good order, peace and dignity thereof," according to the newspaper.
Investigators believe she allegedly killed her son between June 26 and 27, and then placed his body in the river. His exact age is not known, but it is believed he was between 18 months and 3 years old. He died of asphyxiation.
The autopsy report had not yet been released Monday, and Cooper is being held in jail without bond, according to the newspaper.
Faheem's body was found by firefighters who were conducting a public service announcement about water safety off of Cobb Parkway at about 10:30 a.m. July 1. They found his body after seeing him float down the river, Fox 5 Atlanta, a local television news station, reported.
"Cobb County Fire, they came out here to do a public service announcement just to teach about water safety and as they got out here, they noticed there was a toddler or a child of some sort that was floating down the river," Officer Shenise Barner told the news station in July. No missing person report had been filed for a child matching his description at the time.
Cooper was denied bond due to her potentially being a public danger.
"The accused concealed the death of the victim by placing the victim in the Chattahoochee River in the National Recreation Area," Cobb County Magistrate Judge Don Hicks said in Cooper's first court appearance, WXIA-TV, the area's NBC affiliate, reported.
Newsweek reached out to the Cobb County District Attorney's office on Tuesday but did not hear back in time for publication.
Cobb County is a suburban county of more than 760,000 people, just outside of Atlanta.
