Duquesne mom pleads guilty to killing infant son

A woman who initially blamed her 3-year-old daughter for killing her baby took responsibility Wednesday for the murder.

Alisha Parker, 26, of Duquesne, pleaded guilty before Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Beth A. Lazzara to third-degree murder, endangering the welfare of children, aggravated assault, simple assault and criminal mischief.

She will serve 20 to 60 years in prison as part of a negotiated plea.

According to the criminal complaint in the case, Duquesne police were called to Parker’s home in the 300 block of Hemlock Alley at 1:57 a.m. on Jan. 7 for a baby who was unresponsive.

When they arrived, they found 3-month-old Dai’von Means not breathing.

The infant was taken to UPMC McKeesport where he was pronounced dead at 7:30 a.m.

An autopsy showed Dai’von died from blunt force trauma to the head. He had bruising, a skull fracture and bleeding near the brain, the complaint said.

According to detectives, when they first spoke to Parker, she tried to pin the boy’s death on her 3-year-old daughter.

“If there’s anything that happened out of the ordinary, my 3-year-old child did it, and you need to do something about that,” Parker told the detectives, according to the complaint. “She’s the last person to see him alive, and she’s been doing little jealousy, little things. Evaluate that girl.”

However, the medical examiner’s office said the injuries could not have been inflicted by a 3-year-old and instead were caused by an adult.

Investigators said they spoke to Parker’s cousin, who had been living in the house.

The woman, who was not named in the complaint, told police that she left for work that afternoon and called Parker at 11:22 p.m.

Dai’von was crying in the background, the cousin said, describing the sound as an “angry, hungry type cry.”

Parker told her cousin the children were fine, police said.

When the cousin returned home that night, she told detectives that Parker was drunk.

The cousin went to check on her own child, who was asleep. She returned to Parker and drank tequila with her.

The cousin at one point asked Parker where Dai’von was, but Parker didn’t answer.

The woman then went to check on the baby and found him unresponsive.

Parker’s blood alcohol content was 0.187%, police said, more than twice the legal limit for driving.

Investigators later discovered injuries on Parker’s 3-year-old daughter including scrapes on her head, redness and swelling and injuries to her back, stomach and leg.

A doctor determined that the injuries could have been consistent with blunt force trauma.

“The lack of a plausible history of injury is particularly concerning, as these injuries would have been readily apparent to a prudent caregiver,” the doctor wrote in his report.

During Wednesday’s hearing, Parker’s stepmother, Deborah Parker, spoke briefly on the defendant’s behalf.

“I love her, and I’m going to do the best I can to raise her two daughters,” she said.

Defense attorney Lisle Weaver told Lazzara that his client was remorseful and quickly agreed to plead guilty in the case.

The day Dai’von died, Parker checked herself into UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital.

She has since been diagnosed with postpartum depression and PTSD, Weaver said.

The defendant said she was sorry for what happened to her children.

“I’m going to take this time to get myself together while I’m away so when I get out, I’ll be a different person,” Parker said.