'I got frustrated': Mother repeatedly smothered 7-month-old until she died because the baby was crying, police say

A Wisconsin woman is behind bars after smothering her 7-month-old baby girl for crying too much, Badger State law enforcement says.

Makenzie D. Critton, 22, stands accused of one count of physical abuse of a child – repeated acts causing death, according to the Milwaukee County District Attorney’s Office.

The underlying incidents occurred between June 1 and July 27, according to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime.

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On Monday morning, the defendant herself called 911 and told the dispatcher “my seven-month-old is not moving” and she is “not responding to anything,” according to the charging document.

Two minutes later, officers arrived at Critton’s residence on North 25th Street in Milwaukee, law enforcement said.

“[The child] was pulseless and not breathing,” the complaint reads. “After performing CPR for approximately twenty minutes, first responders were able to regain a faint pulse.”

While first responders regained the baby’s pulse, officers spoke with the defendant, who offered her version of events.

The mother said her baby woke up around 5 a.m., so she fed her with a bottle, changed her diaper, then put the infant in a car seat to sleep before going back to sleep, according to the charging document. The defendant said she next woke up at 11:20 a.m. to use the restroom and then checked on her daughter to find her “not moving or breathing,” the complaint says. That’s when the 911 call was made.

An officer next spoke to the child’s grandmother who mentioned “a previous incident of witnessed abuse by Makenzie Critton to [the child] at the residence,” according to the complaint.

The grandmother recalled catching the defendant “smothering” the little girl one day in early June of this year, police said.

The complaint relays that allegation, at length:

Critton placed her hand over [the child’s] nose and mouth, preventing [the child] from breathing. [The grandmother] immediately took [the child] away from Makenzie Critton. [The child’s] lips were blue. Makenzie Critton informed [the grandmother] that [the child] would not stop crying so Makenzie Critton covered [the child’s] nose and mouth. After witnessing Makenzie Critton smother [the child], [the grandmother] kept [the child] in [the grandmother’s] care for the remainder of the day. [The grandmother] did not report the smothering to police previously, but after [the child] went unresponsive, [the grandmother] was concerned that Makenzie Critton smothered [the child] again.

At Children’s Wisconsin, despite a 24-minute-long effort to resuscitate the little girl, she “remained pulseless and was not breathing” and was pronounced dead that afternoon, police said.

Law enforcement described the mother’s reaction to the day’s events.

“Makenzie Critton showed no emotion as first responders were performing CPR,” the complaint reads. “Makenzie Critton remained emotionless in the ambulance ride to Children’s Wisconsin.”

Then, the responding officer asked the mother if “anything else happened,” according to the charging document.

The defendant allegedly replied: “I got frustrated.”

“[S]he became frustrated by [the child’s] cries, picked [the child] up, and smothered [the child] by intentionally pressing [the child’s] face into Makenzie Critton’s chest for approximately five minutes until [the child] stopped breathing,” the complaint goes on. “Makenzie Critton admitted to smothering [the child] before, and claimed that [the child] would always come back.”

After that, Critton was arrested on the basis of her “admissions against interest,” according to the charging document.

The complaint goes on to describe “numerous instances of witnessed abuse that were reported by friends and relatives who lived with Makenzie Critton,” including instances where the child was allegedly hit in the face because she would not stop crying, covered with a blanket, shaken so hard she made a “rattling” noise, and squeezed to the point of turning “blue” by her mother.

“In this case the Defendant impaired the physical condition of [the child] by intentionally smothering or suffocating [the child] on numerous occasions resulting in being unable to breathe (impairing [the child’s] physical condition) and resulting in loss of consciousness and ultimately, [the child’s] death,” the charging document summarizes.

During a custodial interview with a detective, Critton was confronted with her daughter’s death, police said.

“I am going to jail for a long time,” the defendant said, this time crying herself, according to law enforcement.

The post ‘I got frustrated’: Mother repeatedly smothered 7-month-old until she died because the baby was crying, police say first appeared on Law & Crime.