Murder Charge Dropped Against Burnsville Mother
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- A murder charge against a Minnesota woman accused in the death of her toddler has been dropped after a key witness left the country.
Rachel Reeves of Burnsville faced trial in Hennepin County on a second-degree murder charge in the death of 13-month-old Julia Rivera. A criminal complaint says Reeves dropped off her daughter at a baby sitter's house in Minnetonka in March 2009.
The baby sitter asked her son to call 911 after noticing the child was pale and had a blank look in her eyes. The toddler died at Children's Hospital in Minneapolis.
The defense alleged the baby sitter should be a suspect in the child's death. The St. Paul Pioneer Press says the prosecution dropped the charge after the sitter left for Mexico.
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