Oklahoma City mother charged with murder in infant son’s death
OKLAHOMA CITY (KFOR) — An Oklahoma City mom is behind bars after police say her newborn son suffocated to death on a couch while the mother was sleeping on it, blacked out drunk.
The mother, identified as 33-year-old Brennan Spencer, is charged with second-degree murder.
According to investigators, the baby’s father called 911 on the morning of November 2, 2024.
Police said he told dispatchers he found his newborn son lying lifeless at Spencer’s feet while she slept on the couch inside the couple’s south Oklahoma City home.
Investigators said the cause of death was “asphyxia due to an unsafe sleep environment.”
They said Spencer was blackout drunk when she fell asleep on that couch.
According to investigators, it all started the night before, when Spencer and the baby’s father drank a 12-pack of White Claw Hard Seltzers together.
Each can was 12 ounces and contained 8% alcohol.
Investigators said the baby’s father told them he put the couple’s newborn twins in their bassinets around 1 a.m. and then went to bed himself.
But Spencer told police she later drove to a 7-Eleven and picked up four more “tall boy” White Claws in larger 19-ounce cans.
According to investigators, security cameras showed her leaving the store around 1:30 a.m.
Police said Spencer told them when she got home, she sat on the couch, fell asleep, and didn’t remember anything after that.
Investigators went on to say she told them she was “probably really drunk… drunk enough to just need to pass out.”
Police said the baby’s father told them he found Spencer holding one twin while the other twin was unresponsive at her feet around 6:45 that morning.
In the medical examiner’s report, the medical examiner wrote he “felt the child was a victim of neglect,” and Spencer’s “awareness levels were altered” because of the alcohol.
The examiner wrote, “had the child been left in his bassinet,” the likelihood “of the child still being alive would have been increased.”
“You know, it’s a tragic set of circumstances,” legal expert Tim Gilpin said.
Gilpin also said no matter how heartbreaking the case is for the family, prosecutors won’t take that into account when it comes to determining criminal liability.
“It looks as if the prosecutor is attempting to hold the caregiver responsible,” Gilpin said. “And unfortunately, that’s what it takes in order to address this kind of situation.”
As for why the baby’s father is not facing any charges, Gilpin said prosecutors likely have additional information that has not been made public.
“I’m sure the prosecutor has all kinds of facts, the circumstances at their disposal that we don’t know yet,” Gilpin said.
Just as News 4 crews were leaving after gathering video of the home on Wednesday, a man ran out of the house, charged at the crew’s car, punched the vehicle, and waved obscene gestures as the crew drove away.
It is unclear who the man was.