Charges against a Pottsville woman accused of suffocating her 13-month-old son last month were held to court during a 20-minute preliminary hearing Friday morning.
Magisterial District Judge James K. Reiley, Pottsville, ordered one felony count each of criminal homicide and aggravated assault against Jennifer K. Bossler held for Schuylkill County Court after determining the commonwealth proved a prima facie case.
Bossler, 28, of 218 W. Market St. Apt. 2, was arrested by Pottsville police Detective Steven Guers in connection with the April 1 death of James Blake Bossler.
Guers, the only witness to testify at the hearing, said Pottsville police Patrol Officers Joseph Welsh and Richard Pugh were called to the home about 5:30 p.m. and found Bossler performing CPR on the child who was in cardiac arrest.
The toddler was taken to Schuylkill Medical Center-South Jackson Street and pronounced dead there at 6:01 p.m., Guers said.
Guers said incidents concerning the infant's condition that afternoon prompted an investigation that eventually led to Bossler confessing to causing the child's death.
He told the court that an autopsy was conducted on the boy on April 3 at Reading Hospital by forensic pathologist Dr. Supriya Kurvilla who determined the child died from "asphyxia by undetermined means."
The pathologist also said there was no significant disease that would have caused the death, no explanation why the child is dead and that the child is outside of the range of a vast majority of SIDS deaths, the detective said.
The boy also had signs of bruising on both his back and ear, Guers said.
The detective said Bossler was interviewed April 11 and had a clear recollection of what she did to her child April 1 but would not provide details causing the interrogation to cease after about an hour.
Guers said he spoke with Bossler's boyfriend, James Settle, on April 12, who said shortly after the interview the woman confessed to him that she suffocated James Bossler.
On April 13, Guers said Bossler and Settle came to police headquarters where the woman said she wanted to tell the truth about what happened to her son.
After again being read her rights, Guers said Bossler admitted she was responsible for the death of the child saying she was frustrated because the boy would not stop crying and asking for his daddy. Authorities have not determined the identity of the child's father.
Bossler said she placed the baby in the crib on his stomach and when he would not stop crying she used both of her hands to apply downward pressure on his head and back, Guers said.
In his affidavit of probable cause, Guers said Bossler told him the child struggled until he became quiet and stopped breathing.
After the hearing, Bossler was returned to Schuylkill County Prison where she is being held without bail since the time of her arrest.