Waukegan baby sitter charged in infant’s death

A Waukegan woman was charged with first-degree murder and is being held on $3 million bail in connection with the death last month of an infant, police said Friday.

Sarah Gumm, 33, of the 1100 block of Bob O’Farrell Lane, had been baby sitting the 3-month-old child, police said in a news release.

According to the release, on July 27, Waukegan police and paramedics responded to a home on the 1100 block of Bob O’Farrell Lane in reference to a call of an infant not breathing. When paramedics arrived they discovered an unresponsive girl. Paramedics took the child to Vista East Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 5:10 p.m.

An autopsy revealed the cause of death was blunt force head trauma that caused a skull fracture and cranial hemorrhaging, police said.

When interviewed, Gumm provided a voluntary statement admitting that her actions were responsible for the injury to the child, according to the release.

Police said that during the investigation, detectives were told by the victim’s parents that Gumm had been caring for the child in her home for the last six weeks and that they had found her online where she was advertising her services.