Daycare worker admits she murdered baby who wouldn't sleep at nap-time

Daycare worker Leah Walden has finally admitted to smothering an eight-month-old baby in her care who refused to go down for her nap, a court heard.

The horrific murder of little Reese Bowman at the daycare centre means Walden will now face the next 70 years behind bars for first degree murder.

After she was sentenced, Walden asked the Bowman family to forgive her for the senseless killing which happened when Reese wouldn't go to sleep during nap-time. 

The court heard how Walden snapped one day when she was alone in the room with a lively Reese. 

Walden was putting down the kids for nap time, but baby Reese refused to go to sleep.

Leah was reported to have smothered and attacked Reese with pillows and blankets  and “violently snatched the baby, slammed her down in the crib” and “violently shook her body” for about 20 minutes until the little girl lost her life.

In total, CCTV footage at the daycare centre in Baltimore USA, showed that Walden spent 20 minutes attacking the child.

Walden eventually raced Reese to her co-workers in another room. One of them then performed CPR on the child until paramedics could arrive.

Unfortunately, by then it was too late. The baby was pronounced dead and the case was classified as a sudden, unexplained infant death. That is, until the owner of Rocket Tiers reviewed surveillance video and realized what had actually happened.

Walden's lawyer attempted to blame the daycare centre for her actions.

"This is a terrible case," Joshua said. "This was a case of a daycare center which was not operating up to code, using untrained employees and overloading them with kids. I think what you saw was a situation where there was a breakdown. She fell apart under the stress."

The State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby stated that her heart "is truly broken over the tragic loss of an innocent 8-month old baby.”

“Parents trust childcare providers every day with the lives of our children and any time someone maliciously betrays that trust by taking the life of a child, they deserve to be held acountable," she said.

"Today’s plea is part of that accountability and while it won’t bring baby Reese back, I hope knowing that the person responsible for her death is spending 70 years behind bars will begin to bring closure for this family.”

The daycare centre has never re-opened following the tragedy.