Chandler woman jailed for alleged murder of 4-week-old son
Oct 25, 2018, 10:19 AM | Updated: 1:12 pm
Jenna Folwell's mugshot. (Twitter/Chandler Police Department)
(Twitter/Chandler Police Department)
PHOENIX — A 19-year-old Chandler woman has been booked into jail for allegedly killing her 4-week-old son after initially telling police that he was kidnapped from a local park.
Det. Seth Tyler said Jenna Folwell was booked into the Maricopa County Jail overnight on one count of first-degree murder after the boy’s body was found in a duffel bag in the woman’s apartment near Pecos and Dobson roads.
According to court documents, the teenager admitted to letting the baby drown in a bathtub, putting her son in a duffel bag in her home and driving to Brooks Crossing Park near Alma School and Warner roads to report the false kidnapping.
Authorities found an extensive search history on Folwell’s phone that included more than 100 searches on topics such as how long it takes babies to drown, reasons parents kill their babies and sudden infant death syndrome. Folwell admitted to doing the searches before drowning her son.
Folwell reported the false kidnapping on Wednesday, when she called 911 and said an assailant put a bag over her head and took the baby while she was trying to put him in her vehicle.
Shortly after police found the boy’s body but before Folwell was charged with murder, Tyler told reporters that authorities were “not believing the abduction story at all.”
Folwell will appear in court next on Nov. 1. for a status conference.
