An 18-year-old day care employee in Minnesota faces serious allegations after reportedly attempting to suffocate two infants, resulting in the death of one, during her initial month at the facility. Authorities have described the worker’s behavior as “attention-seeking.”

“She had only been employed by the day care for three weeks,” said Savage Police Chief Brady Juell at a press conference Wednesday about Theah Russell, who is facing a second-degree murder charge for the death of 11-month-old Harvey Muklebust.

According to court documents obtained by local ABC station KTSP, the employee, identified as Russell, initially claimed that a child named Harvey was unresponsive due to constipation and having been given melatonin by his parents to aid sleep. This incident occurred at the Rocking Horse Ranch day care in Savage.

During subsequent questioning about various medical episodes reported in September 2025, Russell admitted to “intentionally suffocating” both Harvey and another infant, aged 4 months, on several occasions at the day care, according to statements by Juell.

Juell informed the press that on September 19, the 4-month-old was discovered with blood and foam around her nose and mouth. This incident, noted to have occurred twice, was linked to Russell’s care at Rocking Horse.

Tragically, Harvey was reportedly killed on September 22, just days before his first birthday on September 27, as noted in his obituary.

Juell emphasized Russell’s involvement, stating, “Russell was a common denominator in each of these incidents. She had last contact with each of the affected children.”

An investigation was launched after Harvey’s death and police questioned Rocking Horse employees, including Russell. For the 4-month-old, she claimed she was burping the baby when she began vomiting on her and turned “white purple,” according to court documents obtained by KTSP. The second time the child was found unresponsive she allegedly told investigators that the baby fell asleep on her stomach and started “crying, but nothing was coming out,” per KTSP and the court docs.

The 4-month-old managed to make a full recovery after both incidents. When Harvey was found, he also had a blood-like substance around his mouth and nose. “That third incident tragically resulted in the death of Harvey,” Juell said.

While cops were investigating Harvey’s death, Russell began displaying behavior and actions that “immediately raised suspicion, drawing investigative focus to her as the primary person of interest,” according to Juell. Cops began probing her background and discovered “a documented history of attention-seeking behavior, including her making multiple 911 calls reporting nonsensical incidents and simply hanging up,” Juell said.

“Also learned were past incidents involving starting fires at a church camp and erratic behavior toward other children,” the top cop explained. “During questioning, Theah confessed to intentionally suffocating the two children in an attention-seeking act. She provided detailed descriptions of how she carried out the attempts against the life of the first victim on two separate occasions.”

Juell told reporters that based on the totality of the evidence, police had probable cause to believe Russell secretly attacked the children on three occasions “to seek attention.” He chose to not disclose specific details that Russell allegedly shared with police surrounding how and why she targeted the kids.

“I want to be perfectly clear, however,” Juell said. “Theah Russell has confessed to the attempted murder of our first victim on two occasions and to the murder of Harvey Muklebust.”

Harvey’s grandmother, Julie Muklebust, spoke at the presser on Wednesday and described how the boy was “such a blessing to our family,” noting how his death has left “a tremendous hole” in their hearts.

“Harvey’s fingerprints are on my sliding glass door, and his drool stains still show on his crib sheets,” Julie Muklebust said. “Every day we ask ourselves, ‘Why did it have to be you?’ Every day we live with the pain of what happened to you, but we promise that every day we will say your name. Every day we will continue to fight for you and in the end we will make sure that justice has been served.”

Harvey’s obituary says the boy’s “favorite thing in the world” was being surrounded by his family. “Whether that was at the dinner table where he got incredibly messy eating pizza or snuggling up on the couch as he drifted to sleep,” the obit says. “Harvey could light up an entire room with his contagious smile and filled everyone’s hearts with joy through his adorable laugh.”

Russell has not been formally charged yet, but Scott County Prosecutor Ron Hocevar said his office was working to have official charges brought against her by the end of the week.