Posted on April 24, 2021

Del. Daycare Worker Admits to Smothering 4-Month-Old Baby Girl Because She Wouldn’t Stop Crying

KC Baker, People, April 15, 2021

A former Delaware daycare worker faces 27 years in prison after pleading guilty to killing a baby girl who wouldn’t stop crying and for abusing four other children in her care.

Dejoynay Ferguson, 20, of New Castle, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder by abuse, six counts of first-degree child abuse and two counts of second-degree child abuse, the Delaware Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

Dejoynay Ferguson

Dejoynay Ferguson

Her plea comes nine months after she was indicted by a grand jury “for the repeated abuse and murder of a child, and the abuse of four other children in her care at a daycare facility where she was employed,” the Delaware DOJ says in the release.

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The indictment charged her with one count of first-degree murder by abuse or neglect, and 48 counts of first-degree child abuse and 4 counts of second-degree child abuse.

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Assigned as the baby’s caregiver in the facility’s infant room, Ferguson “placed her hands over the victim’s mouth and nose” and “intentionally restricted her breathing until she became unresponsive,” state police said in statement at the time.

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During an interview with police, Ferguson said she grabbed the baby by the shirt because she had become “fussy” and wouldn’t stop crying, court documents state, The News Journal reports.