Woman arrested in death of baby
A woman accused of killing her nearly 5-month-old daughter in Pearl Harbor Naval housing three years ago told military investigators she covered her baby's mouth and nose with her hand until the baby went limp, according to a medical examiner's report.
U.S. marshals in Ohio arrested Nina Manning in Akron on Friday based on a federal warrant issued here. Federal court documents charging Manning with crimes related to her daughter's death remain under seal. Manning, 25, is in Ashland County Jail awaiting extradition to Hawaii.
Jasmine Manning was born May 11, 2002. When she died Sept. 30, she appeared younger than five months because she was born 28 weeks premature, according to the autopsy.
The city Department of the Medical Examiner concluded the girl died from pneumonia and that the death was natural.
The medical examiner amended its report last July after the Department of Defense Armed Forces Institute of Pathology filed a consultation report suggesting the child could have died from asphyxia. The cause of death was changed to undetermined.
The medical examiner changed its report again in October after viewing a videotape interview of Manning. Naval Investigators conducted the interview June 20, 2005. The amended report lists the cause of death as homicide.
In the interview, Manning told investigators that on the evening prior to her daughter's death, she became upset and had no one to call about Jasmine's crying. She indicated that she put her hand over the baby's mouth and nose until the child's body went limp. When she removed her hand, red lines and fingerprints were on the infant's cheek and the baby's face had turned blue around the nose.
Manning told investigators she tried to resuscitate the baby, then left the infant on a bag of clothing until it was feeding time. She said she again tried cardiopulmonary resuscitation. And when that was unsuccessful, Manning said she removed two pillows from the baby's crib, replaced them with a ripped plastic bag and placed the baby in the crib face down. Then she called investigators.
Manning told investigators in 2002 that she found her daughter's cold and lifeless body in the crib six hours after she had last seen her alive.