Pushing your child on a swing is often a fond memory for most parents. For Romechia Simms it turned out to be a deadly one.
When Sheriff's deputies received a call about a woman pushing a child on a swing at odd hours, they never expected what they found when they arrived at a park in La Plata, Maryland.
Simms was said to have suffered mental illness at the time of her son's death.
She was diagnosed with schizophrenia and told authorities that she stopped taking her medication for a couple of days before her son's death.
3-year-old Ji'aire died of hypothermia and dehydration after his mother kept him on the swing set for 40 hours.
Police had found Ji'Aire's jacket in the trash and his shoes off his feet filled with rain water.
Wills Memorial Park is visible from the road, but bordered on one side by woods in the town of La Plata, about 30 miles southeast of Washington.
She put J'Aire in the swing but found herself unable to lift him out, Elizabeth Connell, Simms public defender said.
"And then the voices started telling her, "˜Don't worry. Someone is coming. Someone is going to come,' " her attorney said.
That's when the mother waited patiently. Night fell, it began to rain and the temperature fell to 51 degrees and she continued to wait.
"She was just trapped," Connell said. "What was happening was a mental breakdown, mental illness taking over her." And she kept pushing the swing, even as her son lost consciousness.
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At an arraignment on Monday May 8, 2017, prosecutors said the 24-year-old mother was a danger and a flight risk.
"I'm not a risk to anybody," Simms said, before her public defender advised her to be quiet. "I didn't even mean for this to happen."
With her mental health in question, prosecutors wanted her held while she receives further evaluation. Family members said she was suffering from mental illness. She was hospitalized after the death of her son.
She faces up to 45 years in prison with 30 years for first-degree child abuse, 10 years for manslaughter and 5 years for child neglect.
Earlier in the year, the boys father petitioned the court for custody indicating Simms was behaving erratically and potentially putting their child in danger.
"I do not believe she can safely care for our son," he wrote.
In court papers she did acknowledge that she had a mental breakdown, but insisted she was doing better.
"This breakdown that I had was the first that I have ever had in my life and I truly believe it was from an extreme amount of stress weighing heavy on me. I am now in a much better productive space," she wrote in a letter to the judge.
She indicated the stress to be a result of her busy lifestyle.
"Between being a mom, work and school I have a load on my hands," she wrote.
She told the court that she was working as a barista at Starbucks, and attending classes at Bowie State University.
The family had been living at the Deluxe Inn motel, not far from the park for the several weeks leading up to Ji'Aire's death.
Just days before the tragic events the judge ordered joint custody with both parents agreeing to the arrangement.
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Released on bail in December, Simms has retreated to her mother's home where she spends most of her time in her room. She visits her therapist twice per week and visits the grave of her son with her mother.
"Sometimes I find myself doing weird things, like I will grab his socks and just hold onto his socks," she says. "Or I will grab one of his toy balls and hold onto his ball "” anything that helps me to feel close "” that I know was his."
The details of the night are blank for the mother.
"People will judge me," she says. "For what happened. Someone will point a finger and say, "˜There is that mother who ."‰."‰. '"‰" She stops.
She is able to remain free as long as she meets certain conditions including being monitored by psychologists, avoiding contact with children and having her blood tested to verify she is taking her medication.
"I hate the way things happened," she says. "But there is nothing I can do to change that. I will always keep [Ji'Aire] close to my heart. Even though he is not here physically, I still feel him spiritually. I just know I will see him again one day."
