Earlier this month, a grand jury in Georgia indicted a mother on charges of second-degree murder and child cruelty following the death of her infant son, who was severely burned by a hair dryer. The incident occurred on November 9, 2023, when the Coweta Sheriff’s Office received a distress call about an infant suffering from cardiac arrest at a residence on Kildare Court in Newnan, approximately 40 miles southeast of Atlanta.
Upon arrival, a deputy found the mother, 31-year-old Morgan Creel, at the back door of the house. Creel directed the deputy to the back bedroom where her son, Carsynn Creel, was found unresponsive, with his onesie partially pulled down. As the deputy attempted to perform CPR on the infant, he noticed severe burns and discoloration on the right side of the boy’s body.
Creel reportedly told the deputy that she had been trying to warm her son’s feet with a hair dryer, but fell asleep. When she woke up, her son was unresponsive, prompting her to call 911. An indictment obtained by a local Atlanta Fox affiliate, WAGA, stated that Creel subjected her son to “cruel and excessive physical and mental pain by leaving a blow dryer on and blowing heated air near said child while said accused was passed out under the influence of a controlled substance.”
During the investigation, authorities reportedly found a device used for smoking marijuana on the back porch of the residence. Nearly a year after her son’s death, in October, Creel was arrested for driving under the influence while out on bond. She was reportedly swerving in and out of traffic lanes, and when pulled over by the police, she attributed her erratic driving to sneezing.
Due to her high level of intoxication, officers had to halt sobriety tests for her safety before taking her into custody. Creel was booked into the Coweta County Jail on January 24. As of Thursday morning, she was not listed as an inmate at the jail, and it remains unclear whether she has legal representation.