Gloucester Township Mom Killed Toddler Because Of Affair: Reports

GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ — A Gloucester Township woman is reportedly accused of smothering her 18-month-old child to death using a wipe because he was getting in the way of her extramarital affair.

Prosecutors argued that 41-year-old Heather Reynolds killed her child because he was getting in the way of her affair, WPIX 11 reports. She held a cleansing wipe over the child’s nose and mouth, but her attorney argued that she had nothing to do with his death.

He also said his client struggles with addiction, according to nj.com. Reynolds was arrested in her child’s death one year after it happened, but authorities said she was a suspect from the very beginning.

Prosecutors called the murder brutal, and spoke about the level of commitment it took because of how long it would take, according to the report. The reports didn't specify how the child was getting in the way of the affair. She has been detained until trial, and faces life in prison.

Police responded to a report of an unresponsive child who was on his lawn in a quiet Gloucester Township neighborhood on May 10, 2018. Police attempted to revive the boy using CPR, but their efforts were unsuccessful. The child was pronounced dead on the scene.

Dr. Gerald Feigin conducted the post-mortem examination. On June 7, 2019, he ruled the cause of death was asphyxia and the manner of death was homicide, according to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.

Reynolds was indicted following an investigation that included extensive forensic analysis and a presentation to a Grand Jury, authorities said. She was arrested in Gloucester Township in June.

She was indicted on charges of first-degree murder, second-degree endangering the welfare of a child, third-degree possession of methamphetamine, and third-degree hindering apprehension in the death of her child.

At the time of the toddler's death, a neighbor told Patch the mother said she had been getting ready for work when she went to check on her 18-month-old boy, who had been napping in his crib.

When she discovered he was unresponsive, the mother said she rushed to seek help from her neighbors. She couldn't call 911 because her cell phone had died, she told neighbors. She also asked if anyone in the house knew CPR. So the neighbor called 911, and she and her friend began giving the toddler CPR. She said no one else was home at the time.