A 28-year-old Ohio mother has changed her plea to guilty of involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 3-year-old son, court records show.
According to a plea agreement reached Wednesday, prosecutors will drop additional child endangerment charges against Molly Krebs, whose son Jayden died while unattended in a bathtub Dec. 1, 2022.
Krebs was permitted by a Hamilton County judge to attend the boy’s Dec. 19, 2022, funeral despite being charged in his death, according to FOX 19.
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Molly Krebs, 28, pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter Wednesday in the December 2022 drowning death of her 3-year-old son, Jayden. (Hamilton County Jail)
Cincinnati Police officers were called to Krebs’ Ridgeway Avenue home in Avondale around 12:01 a.m. Dec. 1, 2022, per a department press release.
They discovered Jayden’s lifeless, submerged body in the bathtub.
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Krebs admitted to leaving the child in the bathtub for a “long period of time” – more than 90 minutes, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by WCPO.
After a long day at the contracting and painting company where she worked, Krebs told police, she was exhausted. She said Jayden had an allergic reaction to something, and she gave him Benadryl to treat the subsequent hives. What the child was allergic to is unclear.
Three-year-old Jayden was found submerged and unresponsive in a bathtub at his home in the 800 block of Ridgeway Avenue, shown here. (Google Maps)
Krebs said she ran a bath, put her son in the tub and accidentally fell asleep after walking away from the bathroom.
When she awoke, she said, her son was unresponsive, and she called police.
Jayden was transported to Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center and quickly pronounced dead. Soon afterward, Krebs was taken into custody by the Cincinnati Police Department’s Homicide Unit.
In court, per footage obtained by WCPO, Krebs’ attorney Jeffrey Adams characterized the “devastating case” as “completely accidental.”
Krebs was visibly distraught during court proceedings and could barely speak on the stand.
“You can see her devastation,” Adams remarked.
The Hamilton County Jail, where Molly Krebs was incarcerated in lieu of $750,000 bail. (Google Maps)
Krebs’ sentencing hearing is scheduled for Sept. 26. According to Ohio’s sentencing guidelines, she could face up to 11 years behind bars.
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that parents do not give Benadryl to children under 6 without express permission from a pediatrician. Instead, those children can be given children’s Claritin, Zyrtec or Allegra, safer medications that make them less drowsy.
