Miami-Dade Police deemed a recent filicide case “unimaginable” when a mother, Shaneka Ann McKinzie, reportedly confessed to fatally strangling her 8-year-old son, Jaisyn Burgos. Police say she told them that after the strangulation she rode around with his lifeless body in her car and proceeded to run errands around town.
After she was done with her runs, the mother brought her son to Hialeah Hospital on Tuesday, Nov. 14, where he was declared dead.
Shaneka Ann McKinzie was later arrested by the MDPD after hospital personnel reported the boy’s death. A medical examiner’s autopsy confirmed that asphyxiation was the cause of the child’s death. The 36-year-old has been charged with first-degree murder.
“The mother confessed to investigators that for the past two days she plotted to kill her child,” police said.
Adding, “She further described that while the child was asleep in the rear passenger seat of her vehicle, she used a tablecloth to suffocate and strangle him until he became unresponsive. She then proceeded to drive around various parts of the county conducting errands with her unconscious child’s body in the vehicle.”
McKinzie was booked into a local jail. Following her court appearance on Thursday, Nov. 16, a public defender was assigned to represent her during the trial. Additionally, the judge decided to detain her without the option for bond.
“I believe in the arrest affidavit there is probable cause for the charge of first-degree murder,” said Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Mindy S. Glazer.
Miami-Dade Police Det. Andre Martin talked about how challenging the case is to work.
“It’s very difficult to wrap your head around how a parent could not only plan to murder their child but then after carrying out this murder go on about their day as if nothing happened. To drive around with their child’s lifeless body and complete various errands as if nothing ever happened. It’s unimaginable,” Martin said to NBC Miami.com.
According to police, McKinzie had undergone substantial trauma in recent years, including the loss of the child’s father a few years ago. Subsequently, she faced homelessness in Missouri. In 2022, due to their precarious living situation, she and the boy relocated to South Florida and resided in various hotels. During this time, the child had not been enrolled in school.
