Toddler Dead After Suffering From Bathwater Burns, Mother and Stepmother Dumped Body In Dumpster To Cover It Up

On Tuesday, stepmother Shatika Lawson pleaded guilty to child abuse resulting in the death of her and her partner’s four-year-old son, Malachi Lawson in the summer of 2019. According to authorities, she had scalded him in the bath and then disposed of his body with her partner’s help.

Horrific Reports

Lawson will be sentenced on December 6 of this year for the part she played in the toddler’s death.

In 2021, Alicia Lawson, the biological mother of the boy, pleaded guilty to the same charges. She is currently serving a life sentence with 30 years suspended for the killing of Malachi.

A day after Alicia reported her son, Malachi, missing, his body was found in a dumpster. Initially, Alicia had said she last saw Malachi on his grandmother’s porch, but eventually she admitted his remains had been dumped 10 miles away from their home.

Local and nation-wide news outlets cited court documents that recounted the incident.

Decisions Made

The spouse of an East Baltimore mother convicted in the death of 4-year-old Malachi Lawson, who was scalded in a bath and thrown in dumpster in 2019, pleaded guilty on Tuesday. https://t.co/M52r2NULtS

— WJZ | CBS Baltimore (@wjz) May 10, 2023

Alicia and Shatika were giving Malachi a bath due to an accident that had caused him to soil himself. While they were washing his clothes in the sink, they noticed that Malachi had sustained ‘serious’ burns on his body from his waist down. The burns were so severe that the women could see skin floating in the bathwater.

The documents reported that the women chose not to call emergency services for “fear that the child would be taken from them, that they would get in trouble for what happened to the child and their past history with child protective services.”

They chose to spend the next nine days treating Malachi at home for the burns.

By August 1st, Alicia awoke to find her son dead. She then carefully wrapped him in a blanket and requested a Lyft to take her to a dumpster located 10 miles away from her home.

Shatika is facing the possibility of life in prison.

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