Utah woman charged with child abuse after toddler found facedown in tub

Utah woman charged with child abuse after toddler found facedown in tub

(KSL TV, File)


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JENSEN, Uintah County — A Jensen woman accused of leaving her toddler unattended in a bathtub, resulting in the child briefly being declared dead before being revived, now faces a criminal charge.

Shaylynne Smuin, 23, was charged Friday in 8th District Court with child abuse, a third-degree felony.

On June 8, Smuin placed her children, ages 1 and 3, in a bathtub with about 8 to 10 inches of water, according to charging documents. The woman claimed she left the children alone for about 10 minutes, the charges state.

“At some point the defendant’s husband noted water coming through the ceiling of a room below the bathroom. When he went into the bathroom he found the 1-year-old child floating facedown into the bathtub which was overflowing with water,” the charges state.

Parents took the child to a local emergency room where “the child was pronounced dead before being resuscitated by doctors,” according to charging documents.

The child was then flown to Primary Children’s Hospital.

Court documents do not say how the child is doing today.

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Pat Reavy is a longtime police and courts reporter. He joined the KSL.com team in 2021, after many years of reporting at the Deseret News and KSL NewsRadio before that.

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