Skip to content
News
Link copied to clipboard
Link copied to clipboard

West Philly mom charged with murder in the bathtub drowning of her 5-year-old son

The mother was identified as Jennifer Joseph.

Balloons were placed on the steps of an apartment building on the 4800 block of Pine Street in West Philadelphia on Tuesday, the day after a 5-year-old boy died in an apartment, allegedly at the hands of his mother. The boy was found with a stab wound to his neck and was facedown in a bathtub. The balloons were later on Tuesday seen tied to the black metal railing by the outdoor steps.
Balloons were placed on the steps of an apartment building on the 4800 block of Pine Street in West Philadelphia on Tuesday, the day after a 5-year-old boy died in an apartment, allegedly at the hands of his mother. The boy was found with a stab wound to his neck and was facedown in a bathtub. The balloons were later on Tuesday seen tied to the black metal railing by the outdoor steps.Read moreJOSE F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
    by Julie Shaw
    Published 

The mother of a 5-year-old boy who was stabbed in the neck and found submerged in a bathtub filled with water in their West Philadelphia apartment earlier this week has been charged with murder, police said Wednesday.

Jennifer Joseph, 40, has also been charged with endangering the welfare of a child in the death of her son, Devon.

A police spokesperson said Wednesday that the cause of the boy’s death was drowning.

Police have said the boy’s father found his son in the tub when he returned to their apartment on the 4800 block of Pine Street about 10 p.m. Monday. And he found his wife in a bedroom cutting her wrist, police said.

The mother was taken by police to Penn Presbyterian Medical Center. Court records show that she was transferred to the Riverside Correctional Facility in Northeast Philadelphia on Wednesday and that a magistrate denied her bail. The records did not list an attorney for her.

The boy was transported to the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, where he was pronounced dead.

Police Chief Inspector Scott Small told reporters outside the family’s home shortly after the episode that the mother may have mental-health issues.