Mother slammed as 'manipulative' for starting crowdfunding page to raise money for funeral of 10-month-old son whom she smothered to death
FLORIDA: A mother who has been accused of murdering her baby has been slammed for being 'manipulative' for her GoFundMe account for the baby's funeral expenses.
24-year-old Victoria Jackson had allegedly told her friend that she had smothered her 10-month-old baby, Malachi, to death. The authorities in Clearwater, Florida were notified when the baby boy was found unresponsive. As per a local news station, ABC Action News, the mother has been charged with first-degree murder post the death of her baby boy.
According to the police, the mother was arrested on November 1 after she confessed to the crime. The police also shared that Jackson had told them in May that she had found her baby unresponsive in his crib. The first responders rushed the child to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.
During that time, the cause of death had not been determined as the cops were still investigating Jackson's story. The police later learned how she had placed a pillow over the baby's face and had smothered him to death. Post the child's death, Jackson started a GoFundMe page for the funeral expenses and raised around $4,300 (£3,300) before the page was shut down.
One contributor, Marah Gonzales, a friend of the mother, shared, "Tragedy is a time where you need to be the most compassionate and loving and kind and she totally just took advantage of that. No one knew the real story of what happened other than her and whatever friend that she told. It was just kind of so manipulative to the point she was consistently reaching out and consistently like please donate to this, and this, but with very, very little details."
Gonzales knew Jackson from high school and added, "It’s definitely a tragedy but it’s definitely like a sobering thing to understand things like this do happen and it’s tragic and it’s how can we as a community get better from it like how can we grow from it." Jackson's first court appearance was on Saturday, November 2. She is currently being held at the Pinellas County Jail without bond.
