Coast Guard mom found guilty of killing her baby as prosecutors share postpartum search history

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A US Coast Guard mother has been found guilty of murdering her five month old daughter at home in Alaska two years ago. 

An eight-person jury reached a decision in the case against the petty officer Katie Richard, who a judge said had a troubling internet search history.

That included, “What do I do if I feel like I want to hurt my baby?” and “What do I do if I hate being a mom?” according to evidence presented in court last month. 

“It’s jarring,” Coast Guard Lt Cmdr Allison Murray, who was the prosecutor, told the court on Tuesday, “to hear this indifference, this callousness.” 

Prosecutors said Richard told investigators she “might have” suffocated the baby in April 2020. The 25-year-old petty officer originally claimed the child had died of natural causes in her sleep, The Washington Post reported.

Her former husband and fellow US Coast Guard officer Gustavo Flores-Guerra had been out with friends on the day of their daughter’s death.

Around three hours after she was put to sleep by Richard, the baby was found unresponsive, it was alleged in court. The couple’s friends also told police they heard screams coming from the home.

Although the mother later retracted her comments to investigators, an autopsy found the baby had died of suffocation and images used in court included a blood-stained pacifier. 

That and other items were not retrieved by investigators for the US Coast Guard, who received criticism for their handling of the two-year-long probe. 

“They should have called in some folks, you know, [Naval Criminal Investigative Service], with more experience, or even the FBI,” said Chris McDonough, a retired homicide detective who testified for the defence in the case, to The Washington Post. 

Richard’s attorney told the court at an Alaskan facility for the US Coast Guard to ignore the mother’s first interview with investigators.

The mother did not speak during the trial, and is expected to appeal her conviction. 

It was the first murder at a US Coast Guard facility for more than a decade. 

The force is the second smallest in the US military, and operates a base out of the Alaskan island of Kodiak, roughly 400 miles south of Anchorage.