2-year-old killed, mom person of interest

BALTIMORE (WMAR) -  

Baltimore adds a two-year-old boy to the annual homicide count.  He lived in the 1400 block of Broening Hwy. in Southeast Baltimore with his mom.  She is now the focus of the police investigation.

"Especially with a woman, you know you carry that child for nine months and then you take its life,” said Jim Pope, a neighbor. 

Pope says the woman has lived next door for just a few months, but her sister is the homeowner.  Police have not named her but they say the 32-year-old mother is a person of interest in her son's death. 

She was taken to a hospital in critical condition with cuts on her throat.  Pope believes she suffered from a mental illness, and the government had to intervene with her child.

"There was a person that came around from social services," said Pope.  "She'd come and visit her for an hour every so often either out back or on the front porch here," he said.    

Detectives were at the house hours after the boy and his mom were found.  The white post with no sign in front had us curious.

"It was a daycare center.  I even trusted that I would be allowed to call them up to watch my boy," said Tonia Nelson, who lives on Broening Hwy.   

An Internet search brought up fairytales Child Day Care at the same address.  But neighbors say the business was operated by the homeowner not the mother. 

"I'm not a mother, and I never carried a child.  I sure couldn't hurt one of my babies," said Pope.    

Police have not given a motive in the boy's death.