(Editor’s note: story originally posted at 9 a.m. Wednesday. Additional details were added at 2:06 p.m. Wednesday and at 2:33 p.m.
An Augusta couple charged with murder and child abuse in 2021 after the death of their baby are under investigation again following Tuesday’s death of another baby.
Salena Tyler and Tyrone Scott told Richmond County Sheriff investigators that they left their 6-month-old son, Samson, on a couch and watched television for about 40 minutes before returning to find him unresponsive at their home on the 1900 block of Watkins Street on Tuesday, Oct. 18.
Coroner Mark Bowen posted a news release Wednesday to say the baby was taken by ambulance to AU Medical Center were he was pronounced dead. Bowen said an autopsy has been scheduled.
According to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Office Tyler, 23, and Scott, 36, are charged with cruelty to children in the second degree and the investigation is ongoing.
According to the Tyler’s arrest warrant, she and Scott are accused of depriving Samson of necessary sustenance to the extent that the child’s health was jeopardized. They were allegedly under the influence when they left the baby alone for two hours without food or care. The warrant further alleges the home was infested with roaches, and that the baby was subjected to narcotics and alcohol, broken furniture and dangerous instruments.
Tyler and Scott have been free on $60,000 bonds granted last year after they were charged with cruelty to children and murder in the Feb. 13, 2021, death of another baby, their 13-month-old son, Travis.
According to statements made during the couple’s bond hearings in Richmond County Superior Court in March 2021, Travis was born premature Jan. 13, 2021. He needed a ventilator to breath and a feeding tube for nourishment when released from the hospital.
The AUMC medical professionals provided Tyler and Scott with training and equipment, and 84 hours of nursing care each week. Tyler allegedly said the baby pulled out the ventilator tube, but medical professionals said the baby wouldn’t be capable of that, and that an alarm on the machine would sound if the tube wasn’t inserted properly.
At the bond hearings, a prosecutor told the judge that several reports were made to the Department of Family and Children Services about Travis. Most of those complaints were from medical personnel. Tyler and Scott also once removed the baby from the hospital against medical advice.
But defense attorneys said during the March 2021 hearings that Travis only weighed two pounds at birth and spent eight months in the hospital, and that the couple had to take on complete care of the baby for three months when they had no nursing services.
Although charged, Tyler and Scott were never indicted in connection with Travis’ death. District Attorney Jared Williams told The Jail Report Wednesday the case wasn’t prosecuted because there was insufficient evidence to prove guilt.
Greg Rickabaugh with The Jail Report contributed to this story.
