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SALT LAKE CITY — Formal criminal charges were filed Wednesday against a Beaver woman accused of killing her 23-day old son.
Tawna Steed, 32, is charged in 5th District Court with aggravated murder, a first-degree felony.
Steed was arrested Monday after the Utah State Medical Examiner's Office ruled the manner of death for Steed's infant son to be homicide and Beaver County sheriff's deputies interviewed the boy's mother and father.
The infant died on Sept. 23. When interviewed on Monday, the boy's father told police he had seen Steed shake the infant on two occasions. On one occasion, he heard the infant crying and found Steed "shaking the baby vigorously and grabbing it tightly across the chest with her two hands. Tawna was yelling (for the) 'stupid baby to stop crying,'" according to a police booking affidavit.
The father said he yelled at Steed to stop, took the child away from her and left their apartment to go to his parents' house. This allegedly happened on two separate occasions, the affidavit states.
