Mom Charged With Homicide After Toddler Dies

A West Virginia woman whose young child died days after nearly drowning in a Green Tree hotel room bathtub earlier this month now faces homicide charges.

Sharon Flanagan, 33, was arrested on July 1 after investigators said she tried to drown her 2-year-old son, Steven, while at the Best Western Hotel on Greentree Road.

The boy was taken to the hospital, but died on July 6. That prompted the Allegheny County medical examiner’s office to perform an autopsy, which investigators say led them to determine the cause of death as homicide.

Investigators said Flanagan was in the room at the time of the incident and gave police different versions of the events that had taken place.

Sharon Flanagan had already been charged with attempted homicide and was being kept in the Allegheny County Jail. In addition to homicide charges, Allegheny County police said she also faces charges of endangering the welfare of a child and aggravated assault.

She continues to be held at the jail and is awaiting arraignment on the new charges, police said.