Feb. 20 (UPI) — An Iowa woman was sentenced to life in prison Wednesday after being found guilty of allowing her infant son to starve to death in 2017.
Cheyanne Harris, 21, was ordered to spend life in prison without parole for the death of her 4-month-old son, Sterling Koehn.
Harris was convicted of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death earlier this month after emergency officials found the infant dead in a mechanical baby swing in the Iowa apartment she shared with the child’s father, Zachary Koehn.
The couple didn’t change the infant’s diaper for nearly two weeks before he was found dead. Officials said it attracted flies that laid eggs and hatched into maggots that crawled in his clothes and his skin for days while he was still alive.
Sterling died of malnutrition, dehydration and infection and the state medical examiner determined his death was a homicide.
The child endangerment charge was merged with the murder charge at sentencing.
Koehn, 29, was also sentenced to life in prison in December after being convicted on charges of first-degree murder and child endangerment causing death.
