Local News

Mom Charged With Drowning 5-Month-Old Daughter

Police: Rozlynn Rodgers Thought Being A Mother Was Disrupting Her Social Life

CHICAGO (STNG) ― A South Side woman was charged Tuesday night with murder in the April 4 death of her 5-month-old child that she allegedly admitted to drowning in a bathtub because being a mother was disrupting her social life.

Killed was Makalah Rodgers, of 7812 S. Ingleside Ave., who was pronounced dead Friday April 4 at Advocate Trinity Hospital at 3:17 p.m., according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's office.

An autopsy Saturday April 5 was inconclusive and "pending police investigation," according to the medical examiner's office.

Rozlynn Rodgers, 19, of the 7800 block of South Ingleside Avenue, was charged with murder Tuesday at 6 p.m., according to police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak. She allegedly left her baby daughter to drown in their home at the Ingleside Avenue address, according to Kubiak.

Rodgers is expected to appear in Violence Court (Br.66) at noon Wednesday for a bond hearing.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was investigating an allegation of death by neglect in the case, said department spokesman Kendall Marlowe shortly after the baby's death.

DCFS has not had any prior contact with Makalah's family and she was the only child living in the home, Marlowe said.

Police originally believed the death was an accident because the woman said she stepped away momentarily while giving the child a bath and when she came back, the baby accidentally drowned.

Later, she allegedly admitted to she didn't want to have a baby because it was disrupting her "night life,'' according to Calumet Area detectives.

(Source: Sun-Times News Group Wire © Chicago Sun-Times 2006. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)

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