Police investigate death of baby from Bath

BATH – Police are investigating the death of a baby girl from Bath whose mother took her to the Mid-Coast Hospital in Brunswick with unspecified injuries Thursday night.

The baby, Jaelyn Malcolm, 9 months, died Friday night at Maine Medical Center in Portland, where she had been transferred, said Stephen McCausland, spokesman for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

The baby was the daughter of Danielle Malcolm, 21, of 29 Windjammer Way.

“There are unexplained injuries to the child. She was in distress,” said McCausland.

He said Bath and Maine State Police have interviewed Malcolm, her boyfriend, Benjamin McNeill, 29, and family members to try to determine the circumstances leading up to the baby’s distress.

McNeill lives with Malcolm, who has a 2-year-old son. McNeill is not related to Malcolm’s children, McCausland said.

McCausland said Saturday no charges have been filed. An autopsy to determine the cause of the baby’s death is being performed this weekend by the state medical examiner’s office.

McCausland said the mother brought the child to the hospital at 4:30 a.m. Thursday concerned about a change in the baby’s behavior, said McCausland.

Malcolm wrote on her Facebook page Friday that her baby had suffered a stroke that made the left side of her brain swell and bleed. She wrote that her daughter had been put into a medically induced coma to help the swelling of the brain go down.

“It didn’t help,” she wrote.

On Saturday, Malcolm posted an announcement that Jaelyn had died.

“My Babies Gone; Mommy Never Left Her Side; Mommy Doesnt Want To Leave Her Now; Now Just Looking For Answers; I Just Wanna Know What Happened To My Precious Baby Girl; All I Wanna Do Is Bring Her Home To Snuggle With Her,” she wrote.

Beth Quimby can be contacted at 791-6363 or at:

[email protected]

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