Camilla Jessen
Few details released as Georgia mum faces manslaughter charge.
A 29-year-old mother has been arrested in Georgia in connection with the death of her six-year-old son, just days after she reportedly set up a GoFundMe page seeking help with funeral costs.
Arrest follows online fundraiser
The Hinesville Police Department confirmed that Raven Louise Broniecki has been charged with involuntary manslaughter, cruelty to children, criminal negligence causing excessive mental or physical pain in the second degree, and reckless conduct.
Police have not released details about the circumstances of the boy’s death or the evidence behind the charges.
Local outlet WSAV reports that Broniecki launched a GoFundMe before her arrest, naming her son as Keith Richard and writing that her “sweet baby boy” had “recently passed away.”
She said the family had used their remaining funds on funerals and urns, adding: “We now are left with a hefty amount of bills and just need some help to get back on our feet.”
The fundraiser has since been deleted.
Records show Broniecki spent one day in custody before posting a $22,300 bond.
Separate Michigan case resurfaced
News of the arrest comes as a separate, older child-abuse case has drawn renewed attention in Michigan.
Prosecutors there say Amanda Maison and her former boyfriend Maurice Houle killed Maison’s three-year-old son, Matthew, in 2018 “to make room for a child” they hoped to have together.
Matthew was found dead by babysitters, and an autopsy reported blunt-force trauma and possible suffocation.
Maison, now 33, pleaded guilty in November to second-degree homicide.
Court records indicate she admitted to previously pushing her son’s head into a wall during what she called a “military time-out,” and to helping “conceal” the abuse from police and child protective services.
Authorities say Maison also acknowledged taking part in a plan to hide the true cause of Matthew’s death. Houle was 28 at the time of his arrest.
Sources: The Mirror; WSAV; Hinesville Police Department; St Clair County Sheriff’s Office.
