Inset: Jaley Bush (Lee County Sheriff’s Office). Background: Bush speaking with law enforcement officers (Keokuk Police Department).
An Iowa woman has been sentenced after telling authorities she woke to discover her infant son had “rolled” into a trash bin before his death.
Jaley Bush was 28 when she was charged late last year with child endangerment resulting in death in connection with the death of her son, identified as R.S., as Law&Crime previously reported.
Bush has now received a five-year prison sentence after pleading guilty in May to child endangerment and involuntary manslaughter, according to Cedar Rapids-based ABC affiliate KCRG.
According to a criminal complaint obtained by Law&Crime, Bush was visiting a friend on Jan. 27 at his home on Hickory Terrace in Keokuk. She had brought her baby with her, and the pair “passed out” on a bed in a basement bedroom.
When she woke up, her son was “head first and unresponsive inside of a trash can next to the bed,” the complaint said. The baby had been sleeping “on the inside portion of the bed,” and Bush told authorities she believed he “must have crawled over or around her before falling into the trash can.”
Keokuk Police Department officers were called to the residence around 2 p.m. and attempted lifesaving measures on the child. Bush was also at the scene, where officers said she appeared to show signs of being under the influence of narcotics because “her demeanor was stoic and her speech appeared to be slurred.”
Body-worn camera footage obtained by Law&Crime captured Bush speaking with officers at the home. Referring to her baby, she told them, “he had rolled into the trash bag.”
Before falling asleep that day, Bush said she took Klonopin, a sedative that “produces a calming effect on the brain and nerves” and “helps to reduce anxiety, prevent seizures, and promote relaxation,” according to WebMD. She allegedly “did not know whom the pills belonged to,” according to the criminal complaint.
The next day, authorities got a search warrant to obtain a blood sample from Bush. She reportedly tested positive for methamphetamine and benzodiazepines, the latter of which is the classification for Klonopin. She told police she did not take any drugs from the time first responders arrived at her home to the time the drug test was taken, per the court document.
The baby was pronounced dead on Feb. 5 with the cause of death ruled to be asphyxia — a lack of oxygen.
Bush will serve her sentence at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women.
Keokuk is located in southeastern Iowa, straddling the borders of Missouri and Illinois.
