A Michigan mother was sentenced to 15 years in prison, followed by 15 years of probation in connection to abandoning her 1-year-old son at a beach in Florida, officials said.
A jury in Volusia County, Florida, found Shamika Mitchell, 38, of Detroit, guilty of aggravated child abuse and unlawful desertion of a child after a three-day trial in November 2024, according to the Office of the State Attorney for Florida’s 7th Judicial Circuit.
Mitchell allegedly abandoned her 1-year-old son at Daytona Beach on Nov. 8, 2023.
Video surveillance showed Mitchell walking down a staircase that provided access to the beach with her son just before midnight. Then, five minutes later, footage shows her walking back up the stairs without the 1-year-old.
A woman reported to police that she had found the 1-year-old at Main Street and Ocean Avenue at around 1 a.m.
She said she found the boy "in the water on his hands and knees, hands buried in the sand up to his wrists” with waves crashing over his head.
When officers arrived, the 1-year-old was unresponsive. He was taken to the hospital, where he recovered.
Before authorities found the toddler, they questioned Mitchell about where her son was, and she told them she had left him with his father, but when they called him, they discovered he was in Detroit.
She faced up to 35 years in prison on the charges.
