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PROVO — Investigators in Louisiana recently sought information from a Provo company that makes baby monitors to assist them in a child homicide investigation, according to court documents.
On Oct. 14, deputies from the Bossier Parish Sheriff’s Office in Benton, Louisiana, were dispatched to a report of a 1-year-old boy that was not breathing or conscious, according to a search warrant affidavit filed in Utah County. The boy, Silas Sielhammer, was declared dead on scene.
As officials in Louisiana began questioning the boy’s mother, they noted “several inconsistencies ... in her statements. She provided several different accounts of the events prior to the death of her child,” the warrant states.
Detectives also noted a baby camera was in the room. The mother “lied and stated that the SD card was not in the camera. Investigators found the SD card in the camera and obtained a search warrant for its content. The content was viewed, and it was discovered that the recorded footage was of Silas’s death,” according to the warrant.
The video monitor was made by Provo-based Owlet Baby Care, the warrant states. Louisiana officials sought additional data from the camera and the mother’s Owlet account that might assist them in their investigation. Louisiana police initially wrote a warrant from their state, but “Owlet Baby Care would not honor the warrant as it is from another state outside of Utah,” the warrant states. Louisiana officials then called the Utah County Sheriff’s Office to write a search warrant on their behalf.
According to the Shreveport Times, the boy’s mother, Courtney Marie Seilhammer, 35, was arrested Friday for investigation of second-degree murder. An autopsy determined the toddler died of renal failure due to acetone intoxication, according to the paper.
