"Mom who left son in cabin for 3 days pleads guilty" Steamboat Pilot & Today November 06, 2014
STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, Colo. — A Steamboat Springs woman pleaded guilty to fatal child abuse Wednesday after prosecutors said she left her 3-year-old son alone for three days in a cabin without running water.
Meghan McKeon was sentenced to 22 years in prison after accepting a plea agreement, Steamboat Springs Today reported. Prosecutors dropped a second child abuse count in exchange for her guilty plea.
Austin Davis died March 27 after McKeon returned to the cabin and found him unresponsive. An autopsy said he died from dehydration.
McKeon, 25, said in court she had been ‘‘spending time with a bottle,’’ chasing unattainable dreams. She said she was not a monster and did not intentionally hurt her son.
She said she wanted to start an organization that would help women.
‘‘I know nothing I say or do will bring my little boy back, but I have hope for a brighter future,’’ she said.
District Judge Shelley Hill called McKeon’s actions outrageous.
‘‘The result that happened was inevitable, and you knew it was when you were doing it,’’ Hill said.
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