(Reuters) - A Maryland mother was found early on Friday pushing her dead 3-year-old boy on a park swing, authorities said.

Deputies responded to a call around 7 a.m. to check on a woman who witnesses said had been pushing a child for hours on a swing at Wills Memorial Park in La Plata, about 35 miles (55 km) south of Washington, D.C., said Charles County Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Diane Richardson.

One witness told deputies she found it strange that the woman had been pushing the child for an unusually long period of time, possibly since the day before, Richardson said.

When the officers arrived they found the 24-year-old woman still pushing the child in the swing, and they realized immediately that the boy was dead, Richardson said.

The child had no signs of obvious trauma, she said, and had been dead for at least several hours.

The office of the chief medical examiner in Baltimore will perform an autopsy on the boy.

The mother, who was not identified, was transported to a nearby hospital for medical tests, police said.

The investigation is ongoing.

(Reporting by John Clarke in Washington; Editing by Daniel Wallis)

i was just reading this on Yahoo, how odd... seems like she lost her mind

i was thinking the same thing, caught her at 7am and apparently she was pushing him since the day before. she musta been shmokin those reefers!

It is possible that drugs were involved but it is more likely that the Mother was in shock or profound grief.

Taking a near death child or a dead infant away from where they died to a happy place and trying to have some moment of escape from the misery is not that unusual when you think of it. Don't we bury our dead in beautiful memorial parks? Not every mother has that option. Perhaps it was just too agonizing to turn her child over tot he police or a potters grave.

But doing hospice I have seen parents rock a deceased infant/child for hours even days. Caregivers often have the same response continuing to clean and stay by a deceased patient. I have seen nurses occasionally not be able to stop giving care in hospitals.

Mostly they are too emotionally exhausted to even know the person who has lingered near death sometimes for weeks is gone. Sadly many babies born premature have months of horrendous hospitalizations and procedures.

It is not unusual for nurses, ambulance, or coroner's staff to be assaulted for trying to remove someone deceased because a grieving loved one thinks they are hurting/kidnapping them. Sometimes they wait just so family members can say good bye and collect themselves.

Sometimes it is because paramedics just are too busy with living/prioritized patients and don't respond to yet another call about a critically ill infant that is doing end of life revolving door trips to the hospital. My oldest son was hospitalized 26 times his first year (Thank God now doing fine.) but paramedics knew I knew almost as much as they did and would "sustain" him until they could get there if I had to do infant CPR whatever.

Shock, grief, ... or maybe just nutz.

This kind of thing isn't normal.

The autopsy will help tell what happened.

As odd as that woman's behaviour
might seem, to those of us who have
never lost a child...

This is one place, I cannot, and will not make ANY judgements.

If autopsy of the child indicates cause of death, as "foul play"...
... Only then, will I pass judgement .

As a parent that has lost a few children. I can agree this behavior is not normal, but I would not say it's necessarily drugs or a mental illness.

Like Pacific said, "shock or profound grief." These seem to me to be the most likely culprit. Unless you have been through it, I don't think there is a way to understand what it's like to lose a child.

Maybe I'm just a little too sympathetic, but I simply can't hold this action against her.

i don't think anyone is holding it against her, just really sad... i guess we will have to wait to find out why the kid died... IMO, i kinda think she might of had something to do with it, possibly accidental...

I think that may be likely. The accidental at least. Unless she really is nuts.

How tragic...just horribly tragic for both of them!

this could have been the child was dieing and was sent home to pass away peacefully and the mother couldn't cope with the shock and grief. this is terribly sad.

.. nothing wrong with a little quality mother child time... ...WHAT..!!..
.. ONE LAST TIME AROUND THE MERRY-GO-ROUND MOM......OK..
.... yes boo hoo very tragic.. ..
. sounds like just another day in crazytown....

This is horrifying.

I need to ask a question no one here asked. How did the dead child stay on the swing without falling off? Rigor mortis?

They have her name now. She spoke very little. I'm not posting her name *in case she just lost it *
No known address. And if this child is her's (she would of conceived., maybe involunarily... somehow... & probably lived/ survived on the street. at 20 yrs old. (24 now) .
The sheriff department said " it was very hard on the officers". That it looked like she was there all night, maybe longer.

No sign of injury on her or boy's body. Waiting for autopsy. She is hospitalized, no charges filed.

ktla.co .

Duct tape.

swings for toddlers are safety seats, they can't fall out...

Some swings have chairs.

thanks for the update.

it gets even more heart breaking.

is there an update on this story yet? thanks in advance.

http://pix11.com/2015/05/26/mother-of-toddler-found-dead-on-swing-wasnt-fit-to-take-care-of-him-boys-father/


the boys father had just turned in the paperwork a week earlier to get custody of the boy...