Prosecutors say earlier episodes involving the 7-month-old were witnessed by relatives before the child died July 27.

MILWAUKEE — A 22-year-old Milwaukee mother is charged with physical abuse of a child through repeated acts causing death after prosecutors alleged she repeatedly restricted her 7-month-old daughter’s breathing over several weeks, including an episode on July 27 that preceded the infant’s death.

The charge against Makenzie D. Critton is built around more than the final morning of the child’s life. Wisconsin’s repeated-acts child-abuse law applies when prosecutors allege at least three qualifying violations involving the same child during a specified period and at least one caused the child’s death. The criminal complaint places the alleged conduct between June 1 and July 27 and describes accounts from several people who said they had seen troubling treatment of the infant before emergency crews were summoned to Critton’s North 25th Street residence.

The case began as an emergency call from the home late on the morning of July 27. According to the complaint, Critton told a 911 dispatcher that her baby was not moving and was not responding. Officers arrived within minutes and found the infant without a pulse and not breathing. First responders performed CPR and eventually detected a faint pulse before the baby was taken to Children’s Wisconsin. Medical workers continued lifesaving efforts, but the child was pronounced dead later that day. Authorities have not publicly identified the infant in the reports reviewed for this story.

Critton initially gave officers an account centered on the child’s morning routine, according to prosecutors. She said the baby had awakened early, had been fed and changed and was later placed in a car seat while Critton went back to sleep. She told investigators that she later awakened and found the child motionless. What changed the direction of the investigation, according to the complaint, was information officers received from a relative about an earlier episode involving the baby.

The child’s grandmother told investigators she had seen Critton interfere with the infant’s breathing in June, the complaint says. According to that account, the grandmother intervened, took the baby away from Critton and cared for her for the rest of that day. The grandmother told investigators that Critton had been reacting to the child’s crying. She had not contacted police about that earlier episode, according to the complaint, but raised it after the baby became unresponsive in July because she feared something similar might have happened again.

Other accounts described in local reporting broadened the allegations beyond that one June episode. The baby’s father told detectives that he had encountered another situation in which the infant’s breathing appeared to have been obstructed and that he intervened. Prosecutors also cited statements from friends or relatives who said they had seen the child shaken, struck or otherwise handled in ways they considered abusive. Those statements are allegations contained in the criminal investigation and have not been proved at trial.

Police said Critton’s own account also changed as officers questioned her. According to the complaint, she told an officer, “I got frustrated,” while discussing the baby’s crying. Prosecutors say she later admitted intentionally holding the child’s face against her body until the infant stopped moving or breathing. Local reports based on the complaint give different estimates for how long she said that lasted, so the precise duration is not treated as settled here. The central allegation is that Critton acknowledged deliberately obstructing the child’s breathing that morning.

Investigators said Critton also acknowledged similar conduct on earlier occasions. The complaint says she believed the baby had recovered after those episodes and expected that to happen again. Prosecutors used those alleged prior incidents, along with the accounts of relatives and other people in the home, to support the repeated-acts charge rather than treating July 27 as an isolated accusation. When detectives later told Critton that her daughter had died, the complaint says she cried and said, “I am going to jail for a long time.”

The legal theory matters because Wisconsin law treats repeated physical abuse causing a child’s death as a Class A felony. The statute requires the state to prove multiple qualifying violations involving the same child during the charged period, with at least one causing death. A Class A felony carries life imprisonment under Wisconsin law. That potential penalty does not determine whether Critton is guilty; prosecutors still must prove the elements of the charge in court, and the criminal complaint represents the state’s allegations at the start of the case.

The complaint also leaves important medical and evidentiary questions for later stages of the prosecution. CBS 58 reported after the charge was filed that a final ruling on the infant’s cause and manner of death was still pending. The state’s allegation links the child’s death to the repeated abuse described in the complaint, but a final medical determination was not available in the reports reviewed for this article. That distinction is significant because the criminal charge is an accusation and the prosecution ultimately carries the burden of proving causation and the other required elements beyond a reasonable doubt.

The earlier allegations also form an important part of the chronology. Prosecutors say the grandmother witnessed one episode weeks before the baby’s death, while the father described another intervention closer to July 27. Additional witnesses reported other concerning conduct. The complaint therefore presents the fatal emergency not as the first warning sign known within the household, but as the last event in an alleged pattern that investigators reconstructed by interviewing people after the infant died. The available reports do not establish that police or another public agency had received those earlier allegations before July 27.

At the same time, the case remains a prosecution rather than a finding of guilt. Critton was formally charged after the child’s death and appeared in court for an initial appearance on July 31, according to local reporting. Public reports reviewed for this article do not establish a conviction, plea or final resolution of the case. They also do not identify any additional criminal charges filed against other relatives or witnesses mentioned in the complaint in connection with the infant’s death.

The unresolved status of the medical findings and the court case means the criminal complaint remains the main public account of what investigators believe happened. It describes a 911 call that began as a report of an unresponsive child, statements from relatives about earlier alleged abuse and admissions prosecutors say Critton made during questioning. Any determination of criminal responsibility will come through the court process, where the state must prove the repeated-acts charge and Critton is presumed innocent unless and until she is found guilty.

Author note: Last updated September 9, 2026.