Tamiya Tashaun Tomlin mugshot and appearing in court on Tuesday (Guilford County Jail and WGHP screenshot)
A 24-year-old mother in North Carolina may be facing the death penalty for allegedly starving one of her 5-month-old sons to death on Christmas Day while police say the victim’s emaciated twin brother was only hours away from meeting the same horrific fate. Tamiya Tashaun Tomlin on Monday was formally charged with one count of first-degree murder in her infant son’s death, records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
Tomlin was first taken into custody on Dec. 28, 2022, and charged with two counts of felony child abuse resulting in serious physical injury. She has remained incarcerated at the Guilford County Jail since her arrest.
A report from the Guilford County District Attorney’s Office obtained by High Point, North Carolina, Fox affiliate WGHP, stated that Tomlin on Christmas Day last year called 911 and reported that she found one of her infant sons unresponsive in her home located in the 4000 block of McIntosh Street in Greensboro, which is about 90 miles northeast of Charlotte.
According to the report, Tomlin claimed that she had recently fed both of the twins before putting them down for a nap. She then fell asleep herself.
“When she woke up a couple hours later, her blankets were soiled and she looked at one of her twins and he was not breathing, so she called 9-1-1,” the report from the DA’s office states, per WGHP. “First responders took the twins to the hospital. One of the twins was pronounced dead at the hospital. Officers as well as crime scene investigators noted that the five-month-old was skin and bones, could see where his joints were visible, and he appeared to be very malnourished.”
A subsequent autopsy determined that the deceased infant’s manner of death was a homicide and the cause of death was malnourishment and starvation as well as a low heart rate and hypothermia.
Doctors reportedly told investigators that the victim’s surviving sibling was similarly “severely malnourished” and suffering from hypothermia. He was described as being “near death due to malnutrition,” prosecutors reportedly said.
Tomlin appeared in court on Tuesday for a bond hearing where the presiding judge explained that if convicted of first-degree murder, she will be facing penalties of either death or life in prison.
During the hearing, prosecutors said investigators at Tomlin’s residence documented the scene and found that there was “minimal food” in the home, “no fresh formula,” and that “all the milk was curdled or spoiled.” Tomlin appeared visibly upset, placing both hands over her face and sobbing as the prosecution explained the conditions inside the home.
Both of the twins were also born premature, with THC in their systems, and weighed only 4.5 pounds each, prosecutors continued. Five months later, both boys allegedly weighed only five pounds, the prosecutors said, emphasizing that they had only gained half a pound since their birth.
Prosecutors asked the court to order Tomlin held without bond until her trial.
A woman who identified herself as Tomlin’s sister addressed the court on Tuesday and adamantly claimed that she and Tomlin fed the twins earlier in the day. She further claimed that the reason there was no food in Tomlin’s home was because they brought it with them to the hospital.
The judge did not appear swayed by that explanation and ordered Tomlin to continue to be held without bond. She is scheduled to appear in court again on Aug. 22.
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