Foster Mother Held After Boy Drowns

A 2-year-old boy taken from his mother because he’d been found living in filthy conditions drowned in his foster family’s apartment, authorities said Sunday.

Police Cmdr. Charles Smith said Corese Goldman’s foster mother, Lillie Easter, held him under a water faucet while trying to potty train him. She was charged with first-degree murder.

The foster parents said they found Corese unresponsive shortly after he took a bath and went to sleep on Saturday.

Corese died of drowning and multiple blunt injuries, and some of his injuries did not seem recent, the Medical Examiner’s office said.

The boy and his siblings, an 8-month-old girl and two boys, 4 and 8 years old, were taken from their mother in 1993 after they were found unattended and living in filthy conditions, Department of Children and Family Services spokeswoman Martha Allen said.