Dallas mom charged with capital murder in baby's death

TANYA EISERER

The Dallas Morning News

A Dallas woman faces a charge of capital murder in the death of her 15-month-old toddler in what authorities say appears to be a case of the child being violently shaken.

Kelly Wingo, 30, was alone with her child, Jackson Wingo, who had been adopted from Guatemala when he was six months old, at the time he was injured, said Sgt. Brenda Nichols, head of the child abuse squad.

Mrs. Wingo was arrested about 7 a.m. Friday.

"He had massive head trauma," Sgt. Nichols said. "He did not have any outside marks on him."

Dr. Matthew Cox, a physician at Children's Medical Center, found that the child had suffered a "fatal head injury" that left him with internal bleeding and swelling of the brain, police records state.

Mrs. Wingo's husband, Jonathan, told police that on the morning of the Aug. 30, he went into the toddler's room and hugged him and told him goodbye. He told police that the child was "fine and happy" when he left the family's home in the 6300 block of Rincon Way.

Mrs. Wingo told police that she and the toddler had gotten up about 7:45 a.m. and she fed him his breakfast of cheerios, according to police records.

She told detectives that she gave him a bath about 9:30 a.m., and then watched tennis matches on television in the den while Jackson sat on the floor on a mat.

About 11 a.m., as she was dressing the baby, she told police that she left the room briefly to let the dog back in the house. She told detectives that when she returned that the toddler was lying on the floor "on his back with his eyes half opened," the records state.

She told police she picked up his limp body, and then "held him to her shoulder and patted him on the back," the records state.

"Suspect said she shook the complainant and said, 'What's wrong, what's wrong?'," according to the police report. "Suspect said she called 911 because complainant was not responding to her."

Jackson died on Sept. 2 after being taken off life support.