CHESTER, S.C. — Family members are defending a South Carolina mother accused of putting her 4-day-old son in a refrigerator for three hours in February before taking him out and calling for help. The infant died of hypothermia.
The child was pronounced dead at a hospital after doctors were unable to raise his body temperature quickly enough to save him. Doctors had initially detected a faint heartbeat.
The child's father, Jeff Lewis, told WSOC that 27-year-old Angela Renee Blackwell didn't kill their son.
"She's innocent," he said. "She's a good mother."
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Authorities said Blackwell put her son, William, in a refrigerator for three hours on Feb 27. Deputies said she then removed him and called for help.
The baby's grandfather, Billy Lewis, became emotional as he remembered holding his grandson just one time.
"I held him for two and a half hours," he said. "I sang to him, and talked to him, and that was the only time I did."
Several family members said there were many people in Blackwell's house on Rose Street that February night. They believe another young child, who has autism, put the baby in the refrigerator.
"I think it's all bull (expletive)," Billy Lewis said. "She didn't hurt the child. She didn't do (anything) to cause it to die."
Family friend Tim Houston said when the child died, there were rumors in the neighborhood.
"There was lots of talk around town about what happened. All I knew was a baby had died," Houston said. “I feel for them. I feel for both of them. ... You just wouldn't think a mother would do that to a child."
The investigation stretched on for nearly six months without an arrest, slowed as investigators waited for results from medical tests. Deputies interviewed many people who were in the house and South Carolina Law Enforcement Division officials also got involved in the case.
Family members also said Blackwell has a mental disability. Jeff Lewis said their older son, who is 2, was taken by the Department of Social Services after William's death. He's trying to get his son back now.
Blackwell walked into court Tuesday with her hands cuffed in front of her. She barely spoke above a whisper, facing a judge on a charge of homicide by child abuse. She was denied bond.
Blackwell faces 20 years to life in prison if she's convicted of homicide by child abuse.