Indiana mom shows little emotion after killing her 9-day-old baby by leaving her in car seat for 14 hours

An Indiana mother showed almost no remorse as she pleaded guilty to suffocating her nine-day-old baby after leaving him in his car seat for 14 hours.

Raeleigh Phillips-Steelsmith, of Lawrenceburg, was sentenced to six years in prison for reckless homicide on October 6 for the death of her infant son, Emmett Phillips.

The 24-year-old mother told the court that she was ‘sorry’ with ‘little emotion,’ for letting the child choke to his death which led the judge to give the maximum sentence, the Miami Herald reported.

The tragedy began on March 2 in 2024 when Phillips-Steelsmith and baby Emmett was leaving a friend’s house in Aurora and stopped at a Kroger on the way home.

They arrived back at their apartment at about 2pm, when the mother noticed her son was still asleep in his car seat.

She brought him inside and left him sleeping in the chair unattended for 14 hours, according to records obtained by Fox 19.

The mom told police that she had fallen asleep as she was watching TV and awoke the next day to find her infant son slouched in the car seat, cold, blue, and limp.

Friends of the mother began CPR on the child and brought him to St. Elizabeth Dearborn, where the infant was pronounced dead.

Raeleigh Phillips-Steelsmith, of Lawrenceburg, was sentenced to six years in prison for reckless homicide on October 6 for the death of her infant son, Emmett Phillips

Surveillance footage obtained by police showed Phillips-Steelsmith did nothing while others tried to resuscitate her baby and did not join to take the baby to the hospital.

An autopsy found the probable diagnosis of death was positional asphyxia.

‘The death of an infant is horrible and certainly tragic. However, the circumstances of the death and the recklessness exhibited by Phillips-Steelsmith constitute Reckless Homicide,’ Dearborn County Prosecutor Lynn Deddens said.

Police and medical personnel were dispatched to the home after a report of an unconscious infant, but it is unclear if they arrived while the baby was still at the home.

Charges were filed against Phillips-Steelsmith in April of 2024.

Video footage also proved that the mother was feeding officers false information about the timeline of the incident, according to the Herald.

Josh Steelsmith, Emmett’s father, posted several messages on Facebook about the passing of his son, the guilt he feels, and wanting his wife to come home.

Phillips-Steelsmith told officials that she had fallen asleep as she was hanging out watching TV and then awoke to find her infant son slouched in the car seat, cold, blue, and limp

The footage showed Phillips-Steelsmith did nothing while others tried to resuscitate her baby and did not join to take the baby to the hospital

‘To my son. Emmett Phillips, you were born on February 23, 2024. God brought you home on March 3, 2024. Tomorrow is your 1-year birthday, and I’m not so sure I’m gonna be ok.

‘I need you to know MOMMY &DADDY love you and miss you so very much, baby boy, and we wish we had more time with you. We will never forget you and always make your memory known and seen as the beautiful boy you were.

‘WE STAND HERE waiting till we can join you in heaven, SWEET CHILD, YOUR LOVED, NO MATTER WHAT ANYONE ELSE SAYS.’

He also added: ‘I feel like she is in there because of my mistakes. I feel like I let her down. I feel like if I had been there, I would not have made the mistake of making money the wrong way. If I had just been there, maybe things would have been different.

‘I know Emmett didn’t fail because of her actions, and he likely still would have passed, but. I feel like maybe I would have noticed his aspiration or something? Maybe I would have had a gut feeling he needed to see the doctor, or maybe I wouldn’t have.

‘Every day she is gone and suffering for this, I carry the weight of the fact that this is MY FAULT. She is there because I failed, because I didn’t protect her, because I’m a f**k up.’

The disgraced mom has three other children, of whom she has no custody and has previously been convicted of neglect of a dependent, according to court records reported by the source.

Phillips-Steelsmith will be serving her maximum sentence for the level 5 felony at the Indiana Department of Corrections.