2-year-old boy died after his mother hit him at least three times in the head just because she couldn’t celebrate her birthday as he “made a mess of himself,” then left him drown in a tub; mother arrested
Florida – In a harrowing case in Florida that left residents shocked, a 24-year-old mother, identified as R. Ford, is behind bars, charged with murder, after investigators concluded she fatally assaulted her 2-year-old son and then left him alone to drown in a bathtub. Ford is facing charges of willful and premeditated murder and aggravated battery toward a child, stemming from the tragic death of her young son.
The arrest comes months after the child’s death in May, when Ford initially claimed the toddler had drowned while unsupervised in a tub. But a deep investigation—led by police and backed by medical findings—uncovered a far darker reality. On May 9, officers were dispatched to an apartment complex after a 911 call reported a child drowning. First responders arrived to find the 2-year-old unresponsive. Paramedics rushed him to a nearby hospital, where he was placed in critical care. Despite medical efforts, he died four days later.
Ford told police that the boy had gotten food all over himself and needed a bath. She described a routine involving the upper faucet to fill the tub, due to the lower one being broken. She later performed a video walk-through for detectives, using a doll to simulate the child’s position and describing how she had left him in the tub for “1-2 minutes, maybe 3-5 at most” to tend to another child. But the medical examiner’s findings didn’t align with her account. The autopsy revealed the toddler had sustained acute trauma to his head and neck, resulting in seizures and ultimately leading to his drowning. The injuries were not consistent with accidental submersion. What’s more, police noted Ford’s statements about finding him “floating with his face out of the water” did not match a typical drowning scene.
Authorities then discovered this was not the first time the toddler had been found submerged. In 2023, when he was just 11 months old, he suffered a previous near-drowning, raising deeper concerns about long-term neglect. Eventually, Ford’s explanation unraveled. In August, under police questioning, she reportedly admitted to hitting her son “in the head at least three times” out of frustration over his behavior. She allegedly said she was angry because he had “made a mess of himself.” Investigators believe this violent outburst triggered a medical crisis that led to seizures—and with the toddler left unattended in a bathtub, he drowned.
Further, law enforcement learned that Ford had asked the young boy’s father to take the child that day so she could celebrate her birthday. When the father declined, police say she lashed out at the boy in anger. According to the child’s grandmother, this emotional volatility was common, and she believed Ford was upset with the father and took it out on her son.
Adding another layer of complexity, Ford launched a GoFundMe campaign just days after the incident, portraying herself as a grieving mother. She wrote, the toddler “was a very affectionate baby,” and described him as happy, cuddly, and full of life. In her plea for donations, she said she couldn’t go into detail “due to legal limitations,” but insisted, “Nothing can prepare you for that as a parent.” That fundraiser, now inactive, described his condition as “irreversible” with “profound brain damage.”
But police allege those injuries were not the result of misfortune—but the outcome of a violent act. Ford was formally arrested on Wednesday and appeared in court Thursday, where she was denied bond. She remains in the county detention center, awaiting the next phase of a case that has shattered trust and left a family—and a city—grieving the loss of a child whose life ended far too soon.
