This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
A West Valley City mother has been accused of smothering her toddler last year.
The child, identified in charges filed Tuesday as B.H., died Jan. 23, 2014. Doctors could not determine an exact cause of death but did not rule out a deliberate smothering, especially after finding teeth marks in the 13-month-old boy's upper lip and small bruises underneath his chin.
The mother, Kimberly Hawkins, and the child both were awake when Hawkins' boyfriend left their apartment the morning the child died, the boyfriend reportedly told police. Hawkins, 24, admitted to being the only adult with the boy when he stopped breathing, police wrote. She also told detectives that "[her boyfriend] did not kill the child, B.H. did not suffocate on pillows or anything in his crib, and volunteered that if she were in the position of the detectives, she would think that someone suffocated her baby with either a hand or something like a blanket over his face."
Hawkins was charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony murder.