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Upstate NY mom posted she was ‘drunk asf’ hours before missing baby found alone, dying in utility tunnel
The disturbing ordeal began on Saturday night, when GE staff told Schenectady Police they found an unauthorized woman on the premises who said she had lost her child and had no memory of how she ar…
nypost.com
Upstate NY mom posted she was ‘drunk asf’ hours before missing baby found alone, dying in utility tunnel
By
Social Links for Jesse O’Neill
Published March 12, 2024
Updated March 12, 2024, 6:02 p.m. ET
An upstate New York mother posted she was “drunk asf” on social media hours before her missing baby daughter was found dying in a cold, wet utility tunnel at an electric plant.
Persia Nelson, 24, is now facing murder charges in the tragic death of 11-month-old Halo Branton, who died after she was found by a search team in a utility tunnel at Schenectady’s General Electric plant with water near her head, according to reports.
4 Persia Nelson, 24, is facing second-degree murder charges in connection with the death of her baby daughter Halo Branton. Facebook/Persia Marie
4 Halo was found in a cold, wet utility tunnel after her “drunk” mother broke
into Schenectady’s GE plant on Saturday. Facebook/Persia Marie
“I’m drunk asf don’t play with me right now lmfaooo,” had posted to Facebook to hours before Halo was found down the 8-foot tunnel where she was either dropped or hidden.
The baby was found after a desperate 12 hour multi-agency overnight search featuring drones and police dogs, authorities reportedly said.
But the rescue came too late for Halo, who died of exposure and hypothermia at a local hospital, authorities said.
Halo’s disappearance came as the area was hit with a winter storm, and added to alleged “depraved indifference,” on Nelson’s part, which influenced the murder charge, authorities told the Albany paper.
She is facing murder and manslaughter charges and was held on $500,000 cash and $1 million bond, according to the article.
“The mother was in a heated building. This utility enclosure with the 8-foot drop was where the baby was dropped or placed or hidden,” Schenectady County District Attorney Robert Carney reportedly said at a Monday press conference.
4 Nelson, 24, was held on $500,000 cash and $1 million bond after the baby died at the hospital. Facebook/Persia Marie
About two hours before Halo was found, an Amber Alert was issued Sunday morning in connection with a baby reported missing from a Schenectady residence on Saturday evening. It was canceled six minutes after officials made the harrowing discovery, according to the article.
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Nelson had been living in the Capital Region since November, first at an Albany County shelter before moving to The Electric City with a boyfriend, prosecutors said.
