Mum’s cruel scam after son’s ‘murder’
A mother accused of murdering her baby has been slammed after she set up a GoFundMe account to pay for her son's funeral.
Victoria Jackson, 24, of Flordia in the US, allegedly confessed to a friend that she had smothered her baby, Malachi, to death with a pillow.
On May 24, Ms Jackson told police she found her 10-month-old boy unresponsive in his crib. Malachi was taken to hospital, however one hour later he was pronounced dead.
Ms Jackson then set up a fundraising account, netting thousands of dollars to cover her son's funeral expenses.
She wrote: "I want to give my son the best memorial service I can. He died last Friday night. I've never been so heart broken in my life. Please help me take care of my baby one last time."
The account raked in more than $US4000 ($A5500) before it was taken down by GoFundMe on Saturday.
The crowd-funding platform said it had started the refund process for donors.
"It's important to know that the platform is backed by the GoFundMe Guarantee, which means all donors are full protected by a refund policy," the company said.
On October 30, detectives were contacted by a friend of Ms Jackson's who said she confessed to them that she intentionally suffocated her son, according to ABC Action News.
Police then contacted the 24-year-old from Clearwater over the phone and allegedly made incriminating statements.
She admitted to suffocating Malachi with a pillow while he slept, according to police, and was arrested on Friday.
Marah Gonzales, who said she knew Ms Jackson in high school and donated to the fundraiser, has since slammed her action.
"Tragedy is a time where you need to be the most compassionate and loving and kind and she totally just took advantage of that," Ms Gonzales said. "No one knew the real story of what happened other than her and whatever friend that she told.
"It was just kind of so manipulative to the point she was consistently reaching out and consistently like please donate to this, and this, but with very very little details."
