RED LAKE FALLS, Minn. — A Red Lake Falls woman has been accused of murdering a 2-month-old child she was taking care of while the biological mother is in prison.
The Red Lake County sheriff’s office arrested 30-year-old Sarah Leah Kortan on Tuesday on a felony charge of second-degree murder, which carries a maximum punishment of 40 years in prison. The criminal case is the result of an investigation into the death of the 2-month-old girl, who was found not breathing June 20 in Kortan’s apartment.
Kortan, a relative who was taking care of the child, made a 911 call, according to the complaint.
A deputy who responded to the incident in far northwestern Minnesota attempted CPR on the infant before emergency responders arrived and took over lifesaving efforts, according to a sheriff’s office news release. The child was taken to the Thief River Falls hospital before being airlifted to a hospital in Fargo, N.D.
The child was removed from life support two days later and died.
Kortan told investigators she dropped the child on the floor several days before the infant died, according to charging documents. The child hit her head on the stove, then the floor, Kortan said.
Kortan took a nap with the infant and woke up, finding that the child had turned purple, the documents said. She also told officers she killed the baby and “it was all her fault,” according to the documents.
An autopsy revealed the infant had multiple skull fractures and retinal hemorrhages and detachment in her eyes. The injuries were “not consistent with an accidental fall but were sustained from inflicted trauma,” the news release said.
“The death occurred as a result of injuries sustained during a physical assault and/or by acts associated with the malicious punishment of a child under the age of 4,” Sheriff Mitch Bernstein said in the news release.
Bernstein said a weapon was not used in the alleged assault.
The child’s mother, who was not identified in court documents or by the sheriff’s office, is serving time at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Shakopee and was not at Kortan’s house when the incident was reported.
Kortan is a cousin of the child’s mother, who had given the infant to Kortan to care for while in prison, according to the charging documents.
Court documents also revealed Kortan was soliciting via Facebook to provide in-home day care at her residence. She was taking care of a 12- and 8-year-old from Thief River Falls during the alleged abuse.
“Due to the severity of the crime, it is believed that there is a potential threat for Sarah Kortan to have ongoing contact with children,” the court documents said.
The other unidentified children who were in Kortan’s care during the incident were not injured, Bernstein said.
Kortan was booked Tuesday into the Northwest Regional Corrections Center.