Babysitter gets 40 years for killing 2-month-old boy, dressing him up, giving him back to mom

WAUSAU, Wis. (TCD) -- A 31-year-old woman was sentenced to 40 years in prison this week for killing a 2-month-old infant and injuring his 11-month-old sister.

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, Marissa Tietsort was handed 37 years for the death of newborn Benson and three years for charges related to the boy’s sister. Tietsort pleaded no contest to first-degree reckless homicide and child abuse in November, the Wausau Daily Herald reports.

Marathon County Circuit Judge LaMont Jacobson told Tietsort at her sentencing, "What you have done to these two families is depraved."

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, in August 2018, Tietsort told the children’s mother that the 11-month-old girl fell off the sofa and suffered rug burn. The parents, however, saw the girl’s skin was off on both sides of her nose. The little girl reportedly did not want anyone near her head for two years.

Tietsort was charged with child abuse two months later and was reportedly ordered by the court not to babysit any young kids.

On Oct. 18, 2018, Wausau Police and emergency personnel responded to a call at Northway Coin Laundry regarding an unresponsive infant, the Wausau Police Department said in a statement at the time. The boy’s mother, who remained unidentified, reportedly went to pick up Benson from the car seat but saw he was unresponsive. He was declared dead at the scene.

The Wausau Daily Herald reports Benson had already died when Tietsort took him and two other young children to a McDonald’s with her boyfriend. She reportedly put the already deceased Benson in his car seat and placed the seat in a nearby booth. Tietsort reportedly dressed Benson in a snowsuit before taking him to the laundromat and pulled his hat down over his eyes so his mother would not be able to immediately tell the child was dead.

Tietsort reportedly changed her story several times about whether she knew the child was deceased. She reportedly eventually told investigators she threw Benson into a playpen because she grew frustrated with him.

According to the Wausau Daily Herald, Tietsort went swimming at a local hotel with her boyfriend and son after handing the boy back to his mother. An autopsy reportedly showed Benson died from a broken tailbone and injuries to his head.

The Wausau Daily Herald reports Tietsort has six children, though four of them were removed from her home before Benson died.

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