Dads Against the Divorce Industry

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Mother Punches, Kills Crying Baby In Polk County, Fla.

Polk County Mother Charged With Her Infant's Death
Posted: 6:43 a.m. EDT April 8, 2003
Updated: 9:54 a.m. EDT April 8, 2003
BABSON PARK, Fla. -- A young mother has been charged with killing her month-old daughter by punching her in the head because she was crying.

Brandylon N. Gilbert, 18, told Polk County Sheriff's investigators that she was watching television about 9:30 p.m. Friday when her daughter De'Anna started crying. Gilbert said she picked the baby up, punched her twice in the forehead, then put the baby back in bed, investigators said.

Detectives said Gilbert placed a 911 call two hours later to report that De'Anna wasn't breathing.

Emergency workers tried to revive the child, but she was declared dead Saturday at Lake Wales Medical Center.

Gilbert was arrested and charged with second-degree murder Sunday after she told detectives what happened, an affidavit said. The document said Gilbert told of having a bad temper and hitting her crying daughter because she was stressed out over personal issues.

The cause of death was blunt force trauma, said medical examiner Alexander Melamud.

Gilbert was being held Monday at the Polk County Jail in Bartow on $40,000 bond. The jail had no information on her legal representation.

Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press.

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