Mother charged with homicide in baby’s death

BILLINGS – The mother of a 2-month-old boy who was beaten and strangled on Christmas Day was charged with deliberate homicide after acknowledging she previously held him upside down in his car seat, prosecutors said.

Kayla Jean Edwards, 23, also was charged Monday with assault on a minor because authorities say she abused the boy’s twin sister. The children’s father, Brandon Tory Edwards, 28, was charged with aggravated assault and assault on a minor.

The couple made their first court appearances Monday, the Billings Gazette reported. Both asked for public defenders and did not enter pleas.

Justice of the Peace Pro Tem Lance Lundvall set bail at $350,000 for Kayla Edwards and $200,000 for Brandon Edwards.

Police were called to their home Thursday on reports that the boy was not breathing. Court documents say a police officer noticed the child was “very blue in color.” The boy was taken off life support at Children’s Hospital Colorado on Saturday after doctors said he had no brain activity.

Kayla Edwards initially denied hurting the boy but later acknowledged she hit and strangled him because he had been crying, police said.

Brandon Edwards told police he saw her do it and did not try to intervene.

Kayla Edwards also told investigators she abused both children in the past and had strapped the boy upside down in a car seat for an hour earlier in the week.

Detectives found bruises on his twin sister’s head, nose and eyes.