AIRWAY HEIGHTS, Wash. — Warning: This story contains descriptions of child abuse. Reader discretion is advised.
An Airway Heights nanny accused of killing a five-month-old boy gave investigators more than a dozen different versions of events during an interrogation, according to newly filed court documents.
Sharon Arger, 59, was arrested and booked into the Spokane County Jail for second-degree murder on Thursday. The charges stem from her alleged role in the death of a five-month-old boy in November 2023. Newly filed court documents accuse Arger of standing idle while medics performed CPR on the baby, not alerting the baby's parents of the situation and blaming the infant's death on his two-year-old brother.
Documents also accuse Arger of giving investigators 16 different explanations for what happened.
Shortly after noon on Nov. 2, 2023, officers responded to a report of an unconscious baby at an Airway Heights home. The caller, later identified as Arger, told dispatch the baby's two-year-old brother struck him in the head, causing him to become unconscious, according to documents.
When officers arrived, documents state Arger answered the door with the unconscious infant in her arms. The officers took the baby from Arger and began giving him CPR until an ambulance arrived. When the ambulance arrived, the infant was taken to the hospital and admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit (PICU). The baby was then examined by several doctors, all of whom noticed injuries on the infant that were "strongly suggestive of an abusive event."
According to documents, the infant has a skull fracture in the back of his head, bruising on the left side of his forehead and right ear and bruising on his neck. Doctors told police it was "implausible" that a two-year-old could have injured the infant that severely, and compared the child's injuries to "being thrown from a moving vehicle."
The infant's parents arrived to the hospital sometime between 12:30 p.m. and 1 p.m. on Nov. 2, 2023. According to documents, the baby's parents told police they hadn't noticed any bruising or injuries on the baby before going to work that morning. The baby's mother told police the only possible injuries she noticed was a small scratch on his stomach and a bruise on his buttocks. She said both injuries appeared after Arger began watching the boys by herself.
According to the parents, Arger did not begin watching the boys alone until October because the father was working remotely up until recently. Therefore, he was always home with Arger while she was watching the boys. The parents said Arger had only been alone with them on Oct. 26-27 and Nov. 2, 2023. The parents told police the baby had become more fussy lately, likely due to teething. Because of this, the parents said the baby liked to be held for most of the time.
On the day in question, the baby's mother told police she left for work at approximately 6:15 a.m. on Nov. 2, 2023. She told police she left the baby with his father, who took care of him and the toddler until Arger arrived at approximately 6:50 that morning. The father reportedly told Arger about the five-month-old being fussy and also told her the two-year-old recently started "hitting" the baby, meaning he would smack the baby's head or play too closely to him with his toys.
According to documents, the baby's mother only found out he was being taken to the hospital because she began receiving phone notifications from her front door surveillance camera. She checked the alerts and reportedly saw the baby being carried out on a stretcher, at which point she left work and headed to the hospital. She told police she never received a phone call from Arger about the situation.
The baby's father told police he did received a call from Arger, but it only rang one time. He called her back, but a police officer answered her phone and told the father what had happened.
The baby spent nearly six days in the PICU before he passed away on Nov. 8, 2023, according to documents. An autopsy was done on the baby the following day, which revealed his cause of death was blunt force injuries to the head.
Detectives interviewed Arger twice about the incident, once on the day it occurred and again on Nov. 3, 2023. During the interview, documents state Arger provided 16 different explanations for what happened to the infant. Her explanations reportedly ranged from the baby choking on his bottle of milk, to the baby's two-year-old brother "kicking" him, according to documents.
Arger eventually stopped talking with detectives and documents said she wanted to speak to a lawyer.
On Thursday, a warrant was issued for Arger's arrest and she was taken into custody. She is charged with one count of second-degree murder. Her bond is set at $1 million.
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