RIVIERA BEACH WOMAN CHARGED WITH SUFFOCATING 2-YEAR-OLD SON

RIVIERA BEACH, Fla. - A woman in a drug-induced haze suffocated her
2- month-old son after passing out a couch he was sleeping on, police said.

Melanie Ann Hayward, 23, of Riviera Beach, told police that she came
back to her apartment early Tuesday morning after drinking and using drugs.

Paramedics were called to the apartment shortly after 5 p.m. and
rushed the child, Jalin, to St. Mary's Medical Center, where he was
pronounced dead.

Hayward told police that she does not remember anything that happened
after she got back to her apartment. She had been living with her
mother since dropping out of the Gratitude House, a
drug-rehabilitation center, last week, police reports said.

A Florida Department of Children and Families spokeswoman could not
confirm whether the agency had previously investigated Hayward
because of its ongoing investigation into the child's death.

Hayward was charged with aggravated manslaughter of a child.