GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — A woman has been charged with child abuse and murder after one of her 5-month-old twins died of starvation and the other was found “near death,” according to the Guilford County district attorney’s office.
Tamiya Tashaun Tomlin was charged with first-degree murder on Monday, according to the Guilford County Jail website. She had also been charged with two counts of felony child abuse inflicting serious injuries on Dec. 28, 2022, with a total of $500,000 secured bond.
A representative of the district attorney’s office said in court on Tuesday that the initial 9-1-1 call reporting an unresponsive child came in on Christmas 2022.
Tomlin had reportedly fed the twins and laid them down for a nap before going to sleep herself.
“When she woke up a couple hours later, her blankets were soiled and she looked at one of her twins and he was not breathing, so she called 9-1-1,” the district attorney’s office reports. “First responders took the twins to the hospital. One of the twins was pronounced dead at the hospital. Officers as well as crime scene investigators noted that the five-month-old was skin and bones and could see where his joints were visible, and he appeared to be very malnourished.”
An autopsy determined that the boy died of malnutrition and starvation, and the cause of death was murder, according to the district attorney’s office.
The surviving twin was also reportedly malnourished and suffering from a low heart rate and hypothermia.
“According to the doctors at that time, he [the surviving twin] was also near death due to malnutrition,” the district attorney’s office reported.
Warrants show that Tomlin was charged with first-degree murder on July 24 in connection to the death of Amir Wright on Dec. 25, 2022.
The district attorney’s office says that Tomlin had a record of alleged neglect with child protective services in Ohio.
When the twins were born, they reportedly weighed 4.5 pounds and had THC in their systems. After five months, the twins weighed 5 pounds, an increase of only 0.5 pounds.
