The mother of a six-month-old baby boy whose body was discovered in a hotel freezer has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, abuse of a corpse, and chemical endangerment.
Amanda Oakes, 36, was sentenced Wednesday in Houston County, Alabama, to 99 years in prison, according to WSFA 12. She had originally been charged with murder.
“We agreed that we would allow them to run concurrent if she pled guilty to all of them at this point. And a 99-year sentence is the maximum that would be available and we think that would be appropriate for these cases,” Pat Jones, Houston County District Attorney, said. “We’re pleased with the outcomes.”
As part of the agreement, Oakes also said she would testify against the baby’s father, Carlton James Mathis, 28. In court, it was revealed that the infant died from eating methamphetamine while under his care, although the district attorney said that Oakes was the one who stashed the child’s body in the hotel freezer.
Police say Mathis and Oakes went shopping at Walmart before heading to Florida, leaving the body in the freezer for hotel staff to find.
Before Oakes entered her the plea, her teenage daughter, who is now in the custody of relatives in Georgia, took the stand and said that she had been exposed to drugs, given marijuana, and was at the scene of a shootout that led to Mathis’ arrest.
“It was hard for her daughter to testify against her mother,” Jones said. “It was traumatic. I suspect she probably suffers from some PTSD having gone through all this trauma.”
Kim Cleveland, mother of Mattis, who is known as CJ, said in a January interview: “CJ loved his son. That baby was his world. This was an accident. Yes, both CJ and Amanda Oakes were high on methamphetamine, but CJ would never hurt his son. It was an accident. CJ has told me, and he has told law enforcement this was an accident. I don’t know why they were on drugs, but my son did not hurt his son, and he did not put him in the freezer.
She added that she had given his son a bottle and they both fell asleep. The baby boy was sleeping on his father’s Mathis’s but rolled off and hit a garbage can, breaking the his neck.
