Mom used makeup to cover bruises on 4-year-old before he died of trauma, Florida cops say

A mom used makeup to cover the bruises around her son’s eyes in the days leading up to his death from repeated abuse, Florida authorities said.

The 36-year-old mom is charged with first-degree murder while engaged in aggravated child abuse, according to a July 2 news release from the Tampa Police Department.

McClatchy News is not identifying the woman to protect the identity of her other children. Her public defender’s information was not available in Hillsborough County court records July 2.

Officers with the Tampa Police Department responded to a report of an unconscious child in the early hours of June 29, according to court documents. Tampa fire rescue rushed him to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead shortly before 6 a.m., according to police.

The woman told officers her child began coughing and struggling to breathe as he was eating potato chips, police said. She called 911 and started doing CPR on him until first responders arrived.

The mom said her son had fallen off the swing at a park a few days earlier, causing his head to swell, and he had been moving very slowly and wheezing, police said.

But the medical examiner found evidence of abuse and ruled the child died from blunt force trauma to his head and torso. The boy had a “tinted substance” concealing the discoloration around his eyes, in addition to a brain bleed, abrasions and other injuries, officials said.

One of the woman’s two other sons living at the home said his mother beat the 4-year-old nearly unconscious multiple times in the days leading up to his death, according to investigators.

One of the children said he “didn’t want to be too truthful because he didn’t want his mom to go to jail,” police wrote in court documents.

After the mom was arrested July 1, she told investigators she disciplined her son with a shoe, causing him to hit his head on the wall, then she used tinted sunscreen to cover the bruises around his eyes, police said.

“This is a heinous crime,” Tampa Police Chief Lee Bercaw said in the news release. “Every child deserves to feel safe in their own home and especially with their own mother.”

8-year-old’s body found hidden in attic, Ohio police say. Mom, another woman charged

Man hits toddler in the stomach, killing him, Pennsylvania cops say. Now, he’s charged

Mom breaches Space Force base with 4-year-old, flees in stolen car, Florida officials say