Therapist allegedly drowned 3-month-old to ‘end everything’ and kill own family

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A Maryland mental health professional is charged with murdering her 3-month-old daughter in what police allege was a murder-suicide plot against her family.

Mackenzie Rose Colgan faces a first-degree murder charge related to the Sunday, Dec. 8, death of her infant, the Montgomery County Department of Police said in a press statement on Monday. 

Around noon on Sunday, emergency personnel were notified by Colgan, 37, that she had drowned her child, who was not named by authorities, while giving her a bath, police said in the statement. 

After officers responded to the Chevy Chase, Md., residence, the victim was transported to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead, per police. Colgan was arrested on the spot. 

Colgan recounted that she woke up on the day of the murder with a plan to “end everything” by killing her family of four, including herself, according to unspecified court documents and investigators’ accounts cited by NBC 4, The Washington Post and FOX 5 DC. 

She allegedly told family members that she was taking the child for a bath before the drowning, per court documents, the outlets reported. 

Once on the second floor of their residence, she allegedly filled the bathtub with water, placed a smaller baby bathtub inside and placed the child in the smaller tub, per court documents cited by NBC 4 and the Post.

Colgan reportedly admitted to turning the child’s face away from her as the infant drowned, per court documents, the Post reported.

Following the alleged drowning, she told police, she pondered jumping out the window but instead told her husband what she’d done, the three outlets reported, citing unnamed court documents. The husband ran to the bathroom to administer CPR and asked her to call 911.

Colgan is a licensed therapist, the Post reported, citing state records. According to court documents cited by the outlet, she was unemployed at the time of the incident.

A website identifying a therapist by her name in Silver Spring, only a few miles from Chevy Chase, says she works with children and families. 

Police had been called to the residence on two occasions in the past few months, per the Post. According to a police spokesperson, a client requested a welfare check on her in July. Later, in October, Colgan called 911 to report her baby was not breathing.

On both occasions, when police got to the residence, she said everything was fine.
Online court records reviewed by PEOPLE show she is being held without bond. Court records did not indicate any plea information, and her attorney was not immediately available for comment. (People)

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