A day care worker told investigators she was trying to "toughen up" a toddler when she left him in a tub filled with boiling water last week, killing the 20-month-old child.
Athena Skeeter, 40, picked up Cardell Williamson from his bed after he threw up on Friday, and put him in a scalding bath tub. Skeeter left Williamson in the tub, where the child suffered severe burns. Cops were called to the scene, but it was already too late for the toddler. He also suffered blunt force trauma to his head and chest, according to The Post.
Skeeter was charged with manslaughter during her arraignment in the Bronx. Skeeter apparently wrestled with the boy before his death, and according to the criminal complaint told investigators that “I then threw my son on top of Cardell and stepped on his stomach three times.
"I was wrestling with Cardell," Skeeter said, according to the Daily News. "I flipped him on the bed. … I lifted him by one arm and one leg and threw him to the floor."
Cardell acted different after that.” Skeeter had been licensed to run a private daycare center out of her apartment in Mount Eden.
