SHREVEPORT, La. (KTAL/KMSS) – Shreveport police have arrested the caretaker of a 17-month-old girl who died in June after suffering what doctors described as “major head trauma.”
According to SPD, Youth Services investigators were called to Willis-Knighton South on June 6 after the toddler was brought to the hospital in an unresponsive state. Doctors immediately suspected foul play and contacted police.
Investigators learned that the child’s mother had initially taken the child to Willis Knighton before she was transferred to Willis Knighton South.
Police say there were no visible injuries but the child was suffering from what doctors described as major head trauma. The child was placed on a ventilator and ultimately died on June 8.
On July 27, police got the report from the Caddo Parish Coroner’s Office finding that the cause of the child’s death was homicide.
Police say weeks of investigation led to an arrest warrant being issued on August 5 for the child’s legal caretaker, 39-year-old Tatianna Burns, on one count of second-degree murder.
Burns was booked early Thursday morning into the Caddo Correctional Center on that charge. Bond is set at $500,000.
