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EAGLE MOUNTAIN — A mother was arrested Tuesday in connection to the death of her 4-month-old baby, police said.
Raona Dorothy Mora, 32, was arrested for investigation of reckless child abuse homicide.
At about 3:30 a.m. Tuesday, detectives were called to a home in Eagle Mountain, near Nolen Park, where a 4-month-old boy suffered severe head trauma.
Paramedics arrived and began medical treatment on the baby, but he was quickly taken by helicopter to Primary Children's Hospital in Salt Lake City, according to a police booking affidavit. Because of the child's worsening condition, the helicopter detoured and took the child to Primary Children's Hospital in Lehi.
Once on scene, police said the mother, Mora, told them she had fallen asleep on the bedside while holding the baby and fallen to the ground on top of the baby.
Officers at the hospital said the baby sustained multiple skull fractures, resulting in an indentation of the baby's skull and extensive brain hemorrhaging. The skull indentation was so significant it was visible to the naked eye, the affidavit said.
The baby's injuries were unsurvivable, doctors told police. The baby was pronounced dead shortly after.
In an interview with police, Mora again said she had fallen asleep while sitting on the bedside with the baby in her arms and fell forward off the bed and onto the baby, according to the affidavit. The bed is a mattress and box spring, about 18 inches off the ground, police said.
Mora said she awoke on her back, with the baby in her arms, and the baby was then taken by the father. The mother said she got up and took the baby back and tried to soothe him as he cried but noticed he was stiff, breathing oddly and bleeding from the ear. Mora said she then woke the father, who had gone back to sleep, and called emergency services.
Police said doctors reported "no possibility that the extensive and life-ending injuries sustained by the 4-month-old baby boy could have resulted from the reported circumstances from Mrs. Raona Mora," the affidavit states.
The mother's explanation was "inconsistent" and "incongruent with the multiple catastrophic brain injuries occurring from a reported fall height of 18 inches," police said.
Mora is being held without bail.
