A mum from Pennsylvania has been charged with concealing the death of a child after cops discovered that she had hidden the dead body of her one-year-old son behind a wall.
The news site KWTX reported on Saturday, 6th November, that the tot’s mother Kylie Wilt, 25, was charged with concealing the death of a child, abuse of a corpse, obstruction of justice, tampering with evidence and welfare fraud, according to the news site Patch.
The infant’s dad Alan Hollis, 27, also reportedly faces unspecified charges.
The boy’s body was recovered at Wilt’s home on Lookout Avenue in the borough of Charleroi in the US state of Pennsylvania last Thursday, 4th November.
Suspicions were first aroused when the couple’s former neighbour, Robin Stasicha, realised that she had not seen the baby in months.
KWTX reported that Robin said she used to hear the baby crying all the time and would often see the couple leaving the house with their child.
Suddenly, she stopped hearing the tot and never saw the couple leave the house with their child again.
She turned to the property manager for advice, reporting: “I told her I haven’t seen the baby and I was concerned, and she said they told her the baby had passed away.
“I’m here mostly all the time, I come and go, but I’ve never seen an ambulance. So, automatically you would call 911, you would call an ambulance or something if your baby wasn’t responding to you.”
An investigation was launched and cops went to the property demanding to see the infant.
According to the news site Patch, Wilt initially told the cops that her child was staying with someone else out of state.
However, she eventually revealed to the police that the infant was dead and his body was hidden behind a drywall.
Attorney Jason Walsh, Washington County District, said: “We found out the child was placed in a wall, the inside a wall and was dry walled over from statements made by mom.” (sic)
Wilt went on to tell the police that the tot died in February from sudden infant death syndrome, but she did not have the money for the funeral.
The death allegedly occurred at a different address and Wilt wrapped her son up in a blanket and put him in a crate.
After moving house she knocked down part of a wall and placed the baby and the crate behind her bedroom wall, which she drywalled over to hide the corpse.
Walsh said: “There was discolouration, different colour paint, obviously looked like dry wall cut out and section was replaced in the bedroom.”
The new site KDKA spoke to Wilt’s sister who said that Hollis was abusive and kept her sister isolated from the rest of the family.
Three more children are believed by the district attorney to have resided with the couple, and their whereabouts is not currently clear.
The investigation is ongoing.
