CAMDEN, N.J. — A New Jersey mother was sentenced to spend the rest of her life in jail without the possibility of parole for the death of her 17-month-old son in May.
The Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said in a news release that Heather Reynolds was sentenced to life in prison for murder, as well as an 8-year-prison term for endangering the welfare of a child and a 4-year term for possession of methamphetamine.
Reynolds was found guilty in July for the murder of her 17-month-old son, Axel.
Prosecutors said that Reynolds suffocated her son by holding a cleaning wipe over his nose and mouth. They alleged that Reynolds did so because she was addicted to drugs and wanted to maintain an extramarital affair by killing her son get him out of the way, The Associated Press reported.
Reynolds’ attorney, who said he plans to appeal the verdict, called his client a “devoted mother” who tried to save her son when she found him unresponsive, the AP reported.
“We are grateful to the jury for the time and attention that they gave to this case,” said Peter Gallagher of the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
Reynolds was also charged with conspiracy in an alleged murder-for-hire plot to kill a former boyfriend, but was acquitted on those charges in July, the AP reported.
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