The mother of a 5-year-old boy found dead in a Fairbanks apartment last month has been charged with first-degree murder.
Fairbanks police said they found the child the morning of Oct. 15 after his mother called 911 to report that someone had harmed him with a 20-pound weight and he was dead, according to a criminal complaint filed in the case on Monday.
Cedar Mae Sarten, 43, remained hospitalized this week with injuries police described as self-inflicted, according to a sworn probable cause statement signed by Detective Robert Hall.
Police said several people they interviewed last month told them Sarten’s behavior in the days before the boy’s death was “inconsistent with her normal demeanor and that she had been acting differently.”
The boy’s father had dropped the child off at 6 p.m. the night before, under their custody agreement, according to the statement. Sarten left numerous messages for him that night including to say “We don’t have a son no more” and that she was injured, Hall wrote. She also said she was “having a rough go of it,” the statement said.
Sarten also told officers that she tried to call 911 but police said they found no indication of that call on her phone, according to the probable cause statement.
Sarten told dispatchers the last time she saw the boy was when he was falling asleep in her arms at 1 or 2 a.m. that day, the statement said. Officers could see “multiple lacerations” on Sarten’s forearms, neck and head when she opened the door after they arrived at the apartment, it said.
Police found a kettlebell with blood on it and two knives in the bedroom where the boy’s body was found, according to the statement. There was no sign of outside entry to the apartment, it said.
Sarten was convicted of misdemeanor reckless endangerment in 2022 involving the same child after being charged in October 2020. That decision was upheld by a three-judge appeals panel in September.
The prior incident occurred when Sarten was at the Fairbanks Memorial Hospital emergency room with the boy, who attorneys in the case described as about 16 months old at the time, according to a summary disposition of the appeal.
Witnesses in the room, who included two hospital employees and two police officers, testified they saw Sarten go to the boy and twist his head, according to the summary. All four said they believed the child was in danger of serious physical injury, it said.
Sarten was transported from Fairbanks Memorial Hospital to Seattle for additional medical treatment, police said in an update Wednesday. A Fairbanks judge signed a $2 million arrest warrant ordering her release only under court-ordered conditions.
On Tuesday, Fairbanks police said, Seattle Police Department detectives arrested Sarten on the warrant.