Police arrest 35-year-old Washington woman in connection with death of 5-month-old child in 2023

An autopsy found the baby had suffered “multiple blunt force trauma,” abrasions to the forehead and fractured left and right ribs, court records show. The county medical examiner concluded the infant’s injuries were consistent with “inflicted head trauma.”

The baby was among eight people whose murders were not immediately included in the Washington DC police’s homicide statistics last year.

Washington DC Homicide Detectives questioned Borden at Georgetown University Hospital. She told them her son had been “cranky” before he was admitted to the hospital, and that she put him in his baby seat and began feeding him, according to an arrest warrant filed in Washington DC Superior Court. But when the baby began coughing, she called 911, she said.

In court documents, investigators said Borden said her son was born prematurely, spent four months in a neonatal intensive care unit and suffered from acid reflux and lung problems. She said her boyfriend, the baby’s father, went to work the morning the child was taken to the hospital, the documents say.

According to court documents, neighbors in the apartment building told investigators they heard repeated “violent thuds” coming from Borden’s apartment, followed by the crying of a toddler.

Borden’s boyfriend told investigators he noticed Borden’s behavior changed during the four weeks she cared for the baby after it was released from the hospital. The father said Borden often acted like she was “in a frenzy” and he saw her falling around the apartment. Borden told police she often smoked marijuana, court records say.

The friend told investigators that he noticed a bump on his son’s head and confronted Borden about it. He recalled Borden telling him he was “overreacting” and that “people drop their kids all the time,” according to the documents.

When a detective asked her during an interview if she had dropped her son, records show she replied, “Not that I can remember. No. I would remember if I dropped my baby.” According to police, Borden eventually said she dropped her son twice and fell once while holding him.

Investigators cited conflicting statements from Borden in the charging documents and said the infant’s injuries “indicated a pattern of non-accidental trauma.”

Borden’s attorney declined to comment at an initial hearing Friday. She was released and ordered to undergo drug and alcohol testing and have no contact with minors. She is scheduled to appear in court again on July 16.